The Courage to Face the Darkness
by fanyetnot
Summary: A new evil has revealed itself. With a new crest in evil's hand, can the digidestined have the courage to stop it. And what's up with Tai freezing up around Sora? I suck at making these summaries. Oh yah it's a TAIORA. NOW COMPLETE!
1. The Darkness is Coming

DISCLAIMER: I will never, in the history of my entire lifetime, own Digimon. It pains me to know this. 

Author's Note: This is my first real fanfic so I don't expect this one to be perfect either. Oh and there are a few things you need to know for the story.

1. The whole twenty years later thing, **NEVER** happened.

2. Sora never loved Matt, **EVER**.

3. Not everyone in the world has a digimon, like at the ending to Season Two (at least that is what my brain figured out), only the 12 digidestined and one other person (you'll know who he/she is when you read it)

Okay then, enjoy.

The Courage to Face the Darkness

Chapter One- The Darkness is Coming

"They probably won't see it coming," a shadowed figure said. It was around 2 am in the city of Odiba, as a young man stood on the rooftop of a tall building overlooking the city.

"Yes," replied another being standing next to the shadowed figure.

"The digidestined better be prepared. For the darkness is coming." The shadowed person's chest then started too glow a dark black color with the outline of a circle. Then he and his partner (wink, wink) faded away into the night.

Later that day, Taichi (Tai) Kamiya walked out of a large grey building. The seventeen year old had just left school as the ending bell rang. He had a grin on his face since school would be out of a week and he couldn't wait to spend the time doing the two greatest things he can think of: eat and sleep. As he walked down the block, a man his age with blonde hair walked up next to him.

"Hey Tai," he said.

"Hey Matt," Tai replied to his friend. "You know were supposed to pick Mimi up at the airport, right?"

"I know. Just to refresh my memory, why are we picking her up again?"

"Cuz Izzy asked us to. She is going to be in town for this week only and Izzy wants to have some meeting or something. He seemed pretty wound up about something."

"Izzy is _**always**_ wound up about something."

"True. I just wonder what it is this time."

Just then a young auburn haired teen appeared beside them. "Hey guys," she greeted.

"Oh… hey Sora," Tai replied as her face started to turn red. "What are you doing here? I thought you were going straight to Izzy's?"

"Well… I thought it would be more fun going with you to get Mimi."

Tai said nothing. He only stared.

"Tai… You okay?" Sora asked.

"He's fine," Matt replied covering from he speechless friend. "He's just brain-dead from the math test he took earlier, that's all."

"Oh… Okay then." She replied.

The three of them called a cab and in no time they were at the airport. Tai was silent the whole way there. When they arrived there was a crowd of people on the runway, and there appeared to be a young girl, with pink hair, neeling on the ground with a blanket covering her back. The three digidestined realized who the girl was it was Mimi. They ran over to her.

"Mimi!" Sora yelled. "What happened!"

Mimi just sat there with a cold blank look in her eyes. She mumbled something under her breath, "Palmon's gone. Palmon's gone.''

"Palmon's gone?" Matt replied. "Where is she?"

Mimi began to burst into tears. Her friends tried to calm her down, but nothing they were doing seemed to work.

"Let's just get her out of here," Tai said fianally saying something.

"Good idea Tai." Matt agreed.

The three of them helped Mimi up, walked her to the cab, and drove off in the direction of Izzy's house. Their thinking was maybe Izzy might know what was going on.

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Note: So how was this one? Review if you want. Another one should come next week or so. Stuff will be explained in the next chapter, trust me.


	2. Unlucky Thirteen

DISCLAIMER: I will never, in the history of my entire lifetime, own Digimon.

Author's Note: Well here's Ch 2. I finished it early just so my fans could read it. Oh yah, I forgot to mention one last change in history. After MaloMyotismon was defeated, everyone of the original eight digidestined got the crests back with a crest tag, even Ken.

So I guess… enjoy Chapter 2.

The Courage to Face the Darkness

Chapter Two- Unlucky Thirteen

"What happened to her!" was the only thing the remaining digidestined could say as Tai and Matt carried Mimi into Izzy's room with Sora walking in behind them.

Everyone was there with there digimon, except for Mimi of course. They consisted of Izzy and Tentomon, Joe and Gomamon, Takeru (TK, he prefers Takeru now) and Patamon, Kari and Gatomon, Ken and Wormmon, Davis and Veemon, Yolie and Hawkmon, Cody and Armadilomon, and Agumon, Gabumon, and Biyomon.

They sat Mimi on the couch. Mimi had finished crying but was still out of it. Joe checked her pulse while Takeru and Kari tried to get her to speak. Izzy seemed unsurprised as he walked over to Matt. "What happened exactly?" he asked.

"Beats me," Matt replied. "We found her like this. All we know is that she was mumbling 'Palmon's gone'."

"It's just as I feared then," Izzy said.

"Huh… You mind filling me in here then."

"In a moment. First I must find out from Mimi what happened."

Izzy walked over to Mimi as Matt turned around to find his best friend, Tai, staring at Sora, though Sora was faced the other way trying to comfort Mimi.

"Dude, I've never seen a more pathetic sight," Matt said walking over to Tai.

Tai returned to Earth in time to here Matt's comment. "Really, I thought seeing Davis try to add numbers together was more pathetic," Tai said as a comeback.

"No that is number two on my list. I'm talking about you staring at Sora. How long have you been in love with her again? Two weeks?" Matt said.

"Hey it's not easy being in love with your best friend," Tai said annoyed since this was the forth time that week he had to explain his crush on Sora to Matt.

"I beg to differ. Being in love with your best friend is like being in love with anyone else. Just ask her out."

"Are you brain-dead, Matt?" anger seemed to flow though Tai's words. "We're too good of friends. We have almost everything in common. We both play soccer, we enjoy the same food, and most important, were in a fight to save the human and digital worlds every day. She likes me as a friend since that's what we have been since we were five. What if I ask and she says no. It would ruin our friendship and I can't spend my life without Sora in it."

"And what if she says yes. Then the two of you can live happily ever after."

"Well…" Tai began his sentence before he was cut off from Mimi's yelling.

"He killed Palmon!" Mimi yelled.

"Wait, who killed Palmon?" Joe asked.

"What happened Mimi?" Izzy added.

Trying to hold back tears, Mimi began to explain her story. "Well… we had just landed and left the plane. Palmon and I walked outside and a young man around fourteen years old walked up to us. He asked if I was Mimi Tachikawa and I replied yes. Then a digimon, a Wizardmon to be exact, appeared in a puff of smoke and blasted me and Palmon onto the runway."

"He attacked you with a digimon?" Ken asked.

"Yes," Mimi answered. "He said that he was a digidestined and that he said his purpose as one was to collect all ten crests. So he told me to hand mine over or he would take it."

"Wait a minute," Joe interrupted. "I thought there were only nine crests."

"No," Mimi began to speak again. "He had one."

"He had a crest too!" Sora exclaimed. "Which one?"

"I don't know. He didn't tell me."

"Anyway, continue Mimi," Izzy said.

"Okay, well… I wasn't going to hand it over to him so we began to fight. His Wizardmon was strong. I knew Palmon couldn't take him out as a rookie, so she digivoled into Togemon, but even Togemon was two weak. Wizardmon just used his Thunderball attack to injure her and his Magical Game attack which let him teleport and create clones of himself to confuse her. So I had Togemon digivole. But before she could, Wizardmon blasted her again and forced her to de-digivole back into Palmon. Then the boy came up to me and tried to take the crest of sincerity from around my neck. I tried to fight back so he had Wizardmon build up energy and attack me with his Thunderball attack. The blast came at me fast and I couldn't move. I knew I was done for, but… but…" Tears began to fall from Mimi's eyes again. "…Palmon jumped in front of the blast. She took all of the damage. The force of the attack cracked my crest tag and the crest fell out. I hadn't noticed though since I was too busy. I ran to Palmon who was lying on the ground. Her body began to disappear. The blast had killed her. I picked her up and begged her to try and stay alive, but it was no use. She disappeared completely. She was gone. I fell to my knees and began to cry." Tears were now pouring out of Mimi's eyes and her face turned a bright red. "Then he walked over, picked up my crest and disappeared in a puff of smoke."

"That JERK!" Matt yelled enraged.

Tai joined in, "How could someone who calls themselves digidestined do something like this!"

"Wait there is one more thing," Mimi added. "He told me that he was going to come for you guys too. And he said, 'Tell them Michael Kenro says hi,' before he left."

"Who is Michael Kenro?" Davis asked.

"He is the reason I called you guys here today," Izzy answered.

"Huh… he is?" Sora said confused.

"Yes," Izzy continued. "Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Gennai."

"What did it say?" Davis asked interrupting Izzy.

"I you don't interrupt him he'll tell us," Matt answered for Izzy.

"As I was saying, the e-mail stated that a fourteen year old boy with a Wizardmon was seen in the digital world with a crest tag around his neck. The crest inside the tag could not be recognized by Gennai, so he confronted the boy to ask him some questions. The boy surprisingly answered two of Gennai's questions but was vague on his answers. This is what Gennai found out. The boy has apparently been a digidestined for six years, and got his crest around the time our crests reformed themselves after we defeated MaloMyotismon. And lastly he said his name was Michael Kenro."

"That's the guy who attacked Mimi!" Davis blurted out.

"You just figured that out Davis?" Takeru said in response.

"Wait there's more," Izzy continued. "I checked the internet for info on this guy and I found this: it's a newspaper article that states an eight year old boy said a ghost came out of his computer and killed his parents. Then the ghost returned into the computer. The cops were going to take the kid in for questioning, but the next day he vanished."

"He probably disappeared into the digital world," Joe said.

"Add the ghost that killed his parents was probably a digimon," Tai added.

"My thoughts exactly," Izzy announced. "I believe that attack scarred his mind. Now he wants to destroy all digimon. That's why he attacked Mimi and destroyed Palmon. We as digidestined, protect the digital world. With us gone he could easily wipe out the rest of the digimon."

"But why take Mimi's crest?" Kari asked.

"Probably so it can't be used against him," Izzy concluded.

"So that means he will probably attack the rest of us too," Matt said.

"Yes," Izzy answered. "So be on guard. Now that we know he's coming we can be prepared for him. I say we should go home and meet here tomorrow. He won't attack twice in the same day, now that we know he's here. He'll need time to rest. Tomorrow we can come up with a plan to find him and stop him. Now go home and get some rest."

And with that everyone got up and preceded to leave except for Mimi who was still a little in shock so Izzy let her stay the night at his place. As Sora began to leave, Tai started to walk towards her but froze as Sora turned around.

"Goodnight Izzy," Sora said. Then she looked at Tai. "Night Tai." Then she walked out of Izzy's room and proceeded out of his house.

Now unfrozen, Tai walked out of Izzy's house with Matt right behind him.

"Wait up Tai," Matt said catching up to his friend.

"Oh… Hey Matt," Tai replied.

"We didn't finish our conversation before. And seeing as you froze when Sora said goodbye to you I think I need to say this to you again. Ask her out!" Matt yelled.

"I can't," Tai replied. "She only sees me as a friend and I won't chance our friendship."

"I don't believe you Tai. You are the most courageous person I know. You even have the crest of courage. You can't be scared to ask a girl out."

"Well I am Matt!" Tai yelled, as he was about to cry. "And as for my courage, I have none left!" Tai then stormed done the block towards his apartment, leaving a stunned Matt behind him.

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Note: What?! Tai with no courage? And who is Michael Kenro? Find out next time on Digimon, Digital Monsters. Oh yah, and please review this chapter too. Your kind reviews help me get through the day.


	3. Rely On Me

DISCLAIMER: I will never, in the history of my entire lifetime, own Digimon.

Author's Note: Okay, here Chapter 3. I just want to thank my small amount of fans. Reading your wonderful reviews, proving that you accually enjoy my writing, helps me get through the day (since school is a waste of time). I just want to say something that "Frozen Twins" made a mistake on in his review. Digimon CAN die. If they are destroyed in the real world their data is stuck in the real world. Like what happened to Gatomon's friend Wizardmon. In season two, he came back as a ghost. And Myotismon became a spirit who needed to take over Oikawa to still live.

That said… enjoy!

The Courage to Face the Darkness

Chapter Three- Rely On Me

Later that evening, Tai was lying on his bed. His thoughts were jumbled. So many things went on that day. Mimi broke down, the digidestined were now being targeted by a new evil, he yelled at Matt, who was only trying to help him, and he came to the conclusion that he doesn't have a single ounce of courage left within. He wanted to try and clear his head but when he tried an image of Sora came to mind. In fact, every night when he closed his eyes to think of had happened to him during the duration of the day that was about to end, his mind would always drift to the moments he had spent with Sora. There wasn't a day the two weren't together, even if it was for minutes at a time. There was no doubt in his mind, he was in love with Sora, but he also knew that nothing would ever happen between the two of them. He knew Sora. He knew everything about her. She could never fall in love with someone she looked at as her best friend. Of course he wouldn't have the courage to tell Sora how much he loved her. She would just tell him that he was just her best friend.

Tai tried to stop his brain from thinking about Sora long enough for him to get some sleep. His thoughts finally came to an end and Tai fell into a nice peaceful sleep to dream the night away. Of course the only thing he ever did dream about was Sora.

The next day, around eleven a.m., Joe was on his way to Izzy's house for their meeting. He and Gomamon decided that they should probably take a shortcut through the area bordering the pier. The faster they met up with the others the better. Joe's thinking was that Michael wouldn't attack a large group of digidestined so when he got to Izzy's, he would be safe.

"Are you sure we should walk this way, Joe?" Gomamon asked his partner. "It seems kind of deserted."

"That's a good thing then, Gomamon," Joe replied. "That means that Michael Kenro is nowhere in sight."

They had been walking a while now and were close to Izzy's house.

"I hope were almost there Joe," Gomamon complained. "I'm getting tired."

"Were about ten minutes away from Izzy's, ok Gomamon," Joe answered. "You can rest when we get there."

"You mean if you get there," a voice said.

"Huh?" Joe was startled as he turned his head towards an alleyway in which the voice had come from. A young man with brunette colored hair and blue eyes walked out of the alley with a Wizardmon following him. The boy was wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans, and a red blazer. "Wait a minute, you're…"

"…Michael Kenro," Michael completed Joe's sentence. "I know who I am and you probably know why I'm here. If you would to be so kind as to hand me your crest, we can be on our separate ways."

"Look pal," Joe began. "I'm not going to let you ruin any chance for us to stop you from destroying the digital world."

"Destroy the digital world?" Michael laughed. "You actually thought that Izzy's harebrained theory was true."

"Wait a minute. How did you know about Izzy's theory?"

"Isn't it obvious? I've been spying on you guys using Wizardmon's Magical Game to clone himself. That way I could know who would be dumb enough to walk the streets alone while I was tracking you guys down and stealing your crests." Joe began to get annoyed. "The real reason I want the ten crests in to have unrivalled power."

"Unrivalled power?!"

"With each crest a single person possesses, the balance of power created by the crests tips in their favor. With each crest I have, me and Wizardmon become stronger."

"Well then, it looks like I can't let you become a treat to the human and digital worlds. You've got yourself a fight. I sweep the floor with you easily. The others are counting on me right now. There is a reason they call me 'Good old reliable Joe'."

"Whatever. Wizardmon, attack!"

"Go get him Gomamon! Digivole!"

In an instant, Gomamon began to glow. "Gomamon digivole to… Ikkakumon!" he said as he digivoled.

Wizardmon charged for an attack. "Magical Game!" he said as a beam of green thunder came from his staff. Ikkakumon jumped into the water next to him to evade the attack.

"Harpoon Torpedo!" Ikkakumon yelled as multiple horns from his head were fired towards Wizardmon.

"Magical Game!" Wizardmon said as he disappeared in a puff of smoke, dodging the wave of missiles.

"Darn it… I missed."

"I won't… Thunderball!" A barrage of charged energy balls flew from atop a building straight for Ikkakumon who dove under water to try and avoid the attack, but was still struck by the bombardment.

"Ikkakumon!" Joe screamed as he watched his partner sink into the harbor.

"It's no use fighting with Wizardmon," Michael said to Joe as he scanned the waters for his friend. "My power is too strong for any one digimon to take on."

Wizardmon then levitated himself down towards the water planning on making his final move. Suddenly, Ikkakumon burst out of the water. "Slamming Attack!" he yelled as he body slammed Wizardmon, forcing him to fight underwater.

"Yes!" Joe exclaimed. "Take him out, Ikkakumon!"

Ikkakumon then fired more missiles at Wizardmon, but this time Wizardmon could not move fast enough to dodge them, and was hit head on by the exploding projectiles. Then Ikkakumon repeated his actions, landing intense blows on Wizardmon each time.

"Keep this up Ikkakumon, and we'll be done in no time!" Joe shouted.

Michael just stood there calmly. He knew what the outcome would be. This was just a setback. One that wouldn't be continuing for much longer. "Wizardmon, bring this battle back to dry land," he said.

And just as Michael finished his sentence, Wizardmon raised his staff and pointed it towards Ikkakumon. "Magical Game!" he yelled as green lightning shot from the staff and blasted Ikkakumon directly out of the water, forcing him to fly into the air. Then, Wizardmon used his Magical Game to teleport himself into the air above Ikkakumon. "Thunderball!" And with that, a ball of energy crashed into Ikkakumon, sending him falling straight to the ground.

"Ikkakumon!" Joe cried in terror. "You need to digivole!"

Just then his crest began to glow along with Ikkakumon. "Ikkakumon digivole to… Zudomon!" Zudomon roared as he stood there ready to attack the spellcaster digimon.

At Izzy's house, everyone was present except for Joe, who was fighting with Michael and Wizardmon. Izzy began to grow worried that Joe had fallen victim to one of Michael's attacks. "Joe is usually the first one here," he said.

"I know," Matt answered. "Where could he be?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to go look for him." Izzy answered.

"Fine then."

"If I'm not back soon, one of you come look for me." And with that, Izzy and Tentomon left to locate the whereabouts of Joe and Gomamon.

Back at the pier, Zudomon began his attack on Wizardmon. "Vulcan's Hammer!" he cried as he slammed his hammer onto the ground causing a beam of energy to fire from it, straight at Wizardmon who was still in the air. He attack hit dead on and Wizardmon fell to the ground and splashed into the water.

"Yes, now we can take the battle underwater again." Joe exclaimed in a heap of joy.

"Not really," Michael interrupted his burst of joy. "Take a look at Zudomon."

Joe turned his head toward Zudomon, only to see a puff of smoke appear above him. Wizardmon was now standing on Zudomon's back. "Thunderball!" Wizardmon said as the energy ball forced into onto Zudomon. Zudomon then fell down, now paralyzed from the attack.

"It's over now." Michael said calmly, having known this was going to be the outcome. "Finish him."

"Yes Michael," Wizardmon said. "Magical Game!" he cried blasting the neighbouring building causing huge amounts of brick to crash down on top of Zudomon, crushing him until, Zudomon started to become bits of disappearing data. Zudomon had been destroyed.

"No," Joe said not realizing at first what had happened. "He can't die!" he then yelled. Joe didn't know what to do. His friend was now dead. He couldn't handle the pain. He did what he might do in any other situation like this one. He fainted.

Michael then walked over to Joe and took the crest from around Joe's neck. "Two down, seven to go," he said, pleased with his progress. "Let's get out of here Wizardmon."

"Agreed," Wizardmon agreed.

"Not so fast!" a voice said from the air. "You'll have to deal with me first!" Izzy had just arrived, flying on the back of Kabuterimon. He landed and stood by the unconscious Joe. "Now that you're weakened, I'll have Kabuterimon finish you off to avenge Joe and Mimi."

"Sure," Michael said. "Why not?"

"Be prepared then, because I'm more prepared then Joe was.

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Note: How will Izzy fare against Michael now that he has three crests. Find out in Chapter Four. Until then, please send your reviews. Your kind words inspire all of my writing, that and the terrible season two ending. TAIORA MUST LIVE ON!


	4. Insane Verses the Brain

DISCLAIMER: I will never, in the history of my entire lifetime, own Digimon.

Author's Note: I know it's been like a day since I posted the last chapter, but I finished Chapter Four. The battle between Izzy and Michael is now going to commence. Who will win? Read to find out.

That said… enjoy!

The Courage to Face the Darkness

Chapter Four- Insane Verses the Brain

"Go get him Wizardmon," Michael said.

"Get in there Kabuterimon!" Izzy yelled.

The battle began. Wizardmon raised his staff firing his Magical Game into the air, which Kabuterimon easily dodged by flying through the air.

"Electro Shocker," Kabuterimon exclaimed as a ball of electricity was formed in his arms and fired at Wizardmon. The attack hit dead on dealing massive damage.

"Nice, attack," Wizardmon commented. "Too bad you'll never be able to kill me if you're still in champion form."

"He right Kabuterimon!" Izzy called out. "Digivole to Ultimate!"

"You got it Izzy!" Kabuterimon called back as he and Izzy's crest started to glow. "Kabuterimon digivole to… MegaKabuterimon!" MegaKabuterimon took up the entire pier raring to end Wizardmon's winning streak. "Horn Blaster!" he yelled firing a beam of energy from his horn.

"Magical Game!" Wizardmon yelled as his staff glowed. He swung at MegaKabuterimon's attack and deflected it back towards MegaKabuterimon.

"Not good." MegaKabuterimon almost said under his breath after being struck by his own attack. The attack knocked MegaKabuterimon backwards causing him to fall backwards into the water. Wizardmon flew over and fired many Magical Game attack at MegaKabuterimon, who returned fire with Horn Blaster beams.

As the battle was raging, Michael turned his attention towards Izzy. "What made you assume I wanted to destroy the digital world?" he asked.

"What do you mean by that?" Izzy answered with another question. "You mean you don't want to destroy the digital world?"

"Of course not."

"Then why target us for our crests?"

"As I told your unconscious friend over there, I want to have unrivalled power."

"How would stealing our crests get you unrivalled power?"

"I'll tell you the same words I told Joe. With each crest a single person possesses, the balance of power created by the crests tips in their favor. With each crest I have, me and Wizardmon become stronger."

"Why would you want unrivalled power?"

"Well it isn't to hard to figure out. And since we have time to kill as Wizardmon kills MegaKabuterimon, I'll tell you my entire reason for why I'm collecting the ten crests. Why don't we start with my parents' death? About six years ago, one night, the night before you and the others were sent to the digital world, a Phantomon came out of my computer. The digimon was pure evil, so evil that he killed both of my parents while they slept, right in front of my eyes. Then he fled back into the computer. As you should know, this devastated me, and anyone I told wouldn't believe me. Upset I decided to take my anger out on my computer. Later, when I went to my computer I noticed a weird device on my desk. The device was a digivice. When I picked up the digivice, my computer glowed and I was transported to the digital world. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was a world of amazement for me. I decided to wander the world seeing that I had no purpose in the human world since I had no family left and no friends. I eventually stumbled upon a weird looking library. The building turned out to be called the Digital Library of History. From there, I read the history of the entire digital world. I was amazed at all of the things I read. Digivolution, the Primary Village, the different power levels of digimon, classification, and most importantly, the Digidestined. Upon my readings though, I came to find Wizardmon, the newest protector of the library. We instantly connected. He showed me more the library had to offer, including the ability to see anything or anyone you wanted to in the digital world. Using the unique powers of the library, I came across the present Digidestined as they battle all of their foes. You were able to defeat all of them. The kind of power you showed was amazing. It was power I wanted. Power I had wish I had the night my parents were killed. Later, after you guys defeated MaloMyotismon, a new crest was created to keep the balance of power safe. The crest is the one that was given to me, because of my painful past. The crest was the crest of Darkness, created from the evil of all the digimon that the Digidestined destroyed. When I received the crest, I knew what I could do to gain what I wanted to have the kind of power I wanted. I would obtain the crests from the most powerful people in both worlds. The nine other crests of the nine strongest Digidestined. Since Wizardmon was my friend, he became my official partner. Now we are executing our plan."

"It's amazing what you have been through, but the power you want should never be in the hands of one person. Also you destroyed the digimon and best friends of two of my friends. I can't let you succeed in collecting all ten crests."

"Then I'll have to destroy Tentomon too. I'm disappointed in you Izzy. I thought that someone else who lost his parents would understand why I needed the crests."

"It is true that my real parents are dead, Michael. But the ones I have now are two people who couldn't love me more. To me they're my real parents!"

"Well I'm about to send you back to them without your crest or partner! Finish MegaKabuterimon off Wizardmon!" rage seemed to be in Michael's voice.

"Yes, Michael," Wizardmon replied as his blasted MegaKabuterimon with another Magical Game attack. The two digimon had been going at it for awhile now and it seemed the Wizardmon was winning since MegaKabuterimon hadn't landed a single blow to Wizardmon during the entire duration of Michael's story.

MegaKabuterimon was hit by another attack. In exhaustion, MegaKabuterimon fell on his back. "No!" Izzy screamed out. "MegaKabuterimon, you can't lose! You need to become stronger!"

MegaKabuterimon called back to Izzy, "Izzy. Lend me your strength!" As soon as MegaKabuterimon's sentence was complete, Izzy's crest and digivice began to glow even more. A strange power came over MegaKabuterimon, as he began to glow.

"MegaKabuterimon?" Izzy asked puzzled as to what was happening.

"MegaKabuterimon digivole to…" MegaKabuterimon began to say. "…HerculesKabuterimon!" An even bigger digimon was now standing in the place of MegaKabuterimon. MegaKabuterimon had digivoled from Ultimate to Mega.

"Prodigious," Izzy said in amazement as he looked at the Mega form of his partner.

"Thank you Izzy," HerculesKabuterimon called out as he charged up an attack. "Mega Electroshocker!" he yelled as a death blowing attack was launched at Wizardmon.

"You did it HerculesKabuterimon!" Izzy cried in excitement. But his tears of joy soon became tears of sadness as he looked at the sight of Wizardmon deflecting the attack back towards HerculesKabuterimon.

Michael began to laugh softly. "I told you that you would lose," he stated watching HerculesKabuterimon begin dematerialize.

"No," Izzy screamed in pain as he saw HerculesKabuterimon become bits of deleted data. Tears were falling heavily from his eyes now as he looked at he partner slowly disappear until nothing was left of him.

Michael then calmly walked over to Izzy and relinquished Izzy's crest of Knowledge. Izzy then fell over and slipped out of consciousness. "Guess he wasn't as smart as I thought," Michael uttered as he walked off down the ally in which he had entered, with Wizardmon following him. All that there was left on the pier was two digidestined out cold… and two crushed souls.

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Note: Now what will happen now that Michael has four crests? Well you'll just have to keep reading. Reviews for this chapter will be most appreciated. You, my wonderful fans, make my world turn faster and smoother. Thank You. I hope you enjoy the rest of the story when I get down to finishing the chapters,


	5. Friend, a Word Full of Tears

DISCLAIMER: I will never, in the history of my entire lifetime, own Digimon.

Author's Note: Okay, there isn't any fighting going on in this chapter, but that doesn't mean it isn't important. Thank you all for taking the time to read this, since fewer and fewer of you continue to actually read my story.

That said… enjoy!

The Courage to Face the Darkness

Chapter Five- Friend, a Word Full of Tears

Izzy awoke from his state of unconsciousness, only to find himself lying in his own bed. 'Did I dream the battle?' he thought to himself, but realized the painful truth when he saw Joe lying on the floor next to him.

About ten minutes later, Tai entered Izzy's room to check up on his two friends. "Izzy, you're up!" he exclaimed, walking in and seeing Izzy researching something on your computer.

"Yes I am, Tai," he replied with a serious tone in his voice.

"Izzy, are you okay? Matt told me to go find you when you hadn't returned with Joe. I mean, I was happy to go. As the leader, I have to make sure that everyone is safe." Tai of course was lying. He had really gone in search for Izzy to try and get his mind off of Sora. His plan failed of course.

"Thanks Tai. I'm fine. I'm just trying to discover a weakness in Michael's attack patterns, that's all."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes Tai. I can't spend my time crying over Tentomon. Not while we still have a fighting chance."

"Huh… a fighting chance? How?"

"Bring everyone else in here. I'll explain this to everyone."

A few minutes later, everyone was comfortably seated in Izzy's room awaiting his theory on how to defeat Michael Kenro.

"Alright everyone," Izzy began. "First off, as you all know, Michael Kenro now has four crests. With them he plans on having unrivalled power, so that nothing can harm him again. But there is one bad part to his plan…"

"You mean besides destroying all of our digimon and becoming a treat to all living creatures," Davis said, cutting Izzy off.

"Well actually, it's worse than that," Izzy started again. "If…"

"What could be worse than that?" Davis asked, cutting Izzy off again.

"Well if you could be quiet for more than thirty seconds, **Davis**, then I could tell you," Izzy stated as Davis shut himself up. "…As I was saying, it's much worse. I found out from Gennai just now, that if one person is in control of all ten crests, the balance of both worlds will become disrupted beyond fixing. And then…"

"And then what?!" Davis yelled out before getting whacked in the head by Yolei.

"You idiot!" Yolei yelled at Davis. "Don't interrupt him!"

"And then both worlds will be destroyed," Izzy finished.

"WHAT?!" everyone yelled, including Joe, who had woken up by Yolei's yelling.

"Yes, and Michael has no clue that this will occur if he reaches total power."

"Then we have to stop him at any cost," Sora said.

"I agree, well put Sora," Tai added, trying to make himself look even better in front of his best friend/crush.

"Thanks Tai," Sora replied to Tai making Tai turn around and blush, which no one in the room seemed to notice except Matt, who hung his head in shame.

"Sora and Tai are right," Izzy stated. "If we don't stop him, even if we lose even more of our digimon, he'll destroy everything anyway. So I devised a perfect plan to try and bring Michael down without losing any crests."

Izzy then instructed everyone to leave except for Takeru, Kari, Yolei, and Cody. Everyone else exited from Izzy's room and most of them left. Sora, as she was about to leave Izzy's house, froze in place. Tai spotted this in an instant, since his attention was usually focused on Sora anyway.

"What's wrong Sora?" Tai asked the girl of his dreams.

"I just realised that sooner or later, Michael will target me and Biyomon, since were not as strong as some of the others," Sora answered. "I just don't know what will happen if I do get attacked by Michael and Wizardmon."

"Well, Sora…" Tai began to say, his crest starting to flicker a little.

"Yes Tai."

"Well… If… if," Tai began to stutter for reasons he could not figure out at the moment. In his mind, Tai thought that he was just tell Sora that he would try his hardest to protect her from Michael. Why was this so difficult? The reasons started to form in his mind. What if she finds it weird that I would only protect her? What if she turns down my offer thinking my help isn't needed, like I'm just not needed. Tai could usually take rejection from most people, but Sora was not most people. She was the one person that he would want to spend the rest of his life with, to hopefully one day marry and have kids with. The one person he would sacrifice his life for in a heartbeat. Tai's crest started to flicker some more as he finally decided to spit the words out. "If Michael and Wizardmon do attack you Sora, then I'll make sure I'm right there to protect you from him."

'That took long enough, Tai,' Matt thought, seeing his friend almost make a complete fool out of himself. Matt had been standing in Izzy's doorway for the entire duration of Tai's sad attempt to offer protection to a team mate.

"That's very sweet of you Tai," Sora replied, bringing some joy to Tai's face while his crest began to glow a little more. But Sora's next sentence was something Tai had wished he hadn't heard. "You're such a caring friend. I couldn't ask for a better one."

Suddenly, Tai's heart sank. His crest's glow faded away into a state of dull emptiness. "Just a friend, huh," Tai mumbled to himself.

"Did you say something Tai?" Sora asked, hearing her best friend mumble something.

"Oh… yah… I was just saying that that's what friends do, they protect each other," Tai rambled trying to cover for himself.

"Oh… okay. Well I'll see you later. Mimi is still a little jumpy so I promised to walk her to my place and let her stay there until she has to return home to America."

"Okay then. Bye Sora."

"Bye Tai." Sora then walked out of Izzy's house to meet Mimi, who was already outside.

Tai kept his "everything's okay" face on until Sora left. Then his back slid down the side of Izzy's wall until Tai was seated on the floor. Tears dripped from his eyes. 'She only sees me as a friend. I knew this would happen' he yelled at himself in his own mind as he sat there crying. Matt, seeing the whole thing, rushed to Tai's side, attempting to comfort him.

Just as Matt rushed over to Tai, a shadowed face, which had been watching everything through the window, walked away from the window. The person uttered, "Darn it," as they walked.

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Note: Who was that you may be wondering? Well I can't just tell you. Where's the fun in that. You'll just have to keep reading. Oh, and review this please.


	6. Double Number Assault

DISCLAIMER: I will never, in the history of my entire lifetime, own Digimon.

Author's Note: Here's Chapter Six. I know I usually update the story more often, but I had to face an author's worst nightmare, writer's block. I eventually prevailed though.

That said… enjoy!

The Courage to Face the Darkness

Chapter Six- Double Number Assault

"…So that's the plan," Izzy finished. He had been discussing his almost foolproof plan with Takeru, Kari, Yolei, and Cody. "Everyone understands it, right?"

"What's not to understand?" Takeru replied. "It seems pretty simple to me."

"I'm just not sure if it will work," Cody added. "I mean Michael Kenro and Wizardmon defeated an Ultimate-level digimon and then continued to defeat a Mega-level digimon with ease, all in the Champion-level too. Are you sure this will work?"

"True," Izzy answered. "But we haven't attacked as a group against Wizardmon yet. We fought him one on one, three times in a row. If we attack with more than one person, he might not be able to focus his attention on multiple targets."

"I hope your right Izzy," Kari said.

"I hope I'm right too," Izzy replied as the four digidestined exited to battle the growing threat that was Michael Kenro.

Matt had been walking Tai towards the Kamiya residence. Matt was barely able to get Tai to move from the spot he had positioned himself in back in Izzy's house. He had never seen Tai in such a state. Tai had always been a source of inspiration for everyone. Tai was a guy was could never be strayed from the right path. Though Tai was stubborn and easily got into fights with friends at times, he knew always the right thing to do. He faced any challenge head on, and he never backed down. But now, Tai was like a statue, unmoving, since Matt was the one making Tai walk, cold to touch, and an emotion was stuck onto his faced. It was an expression which could be described as crushed. If a man, who had lost his entire family that very day, had taken a look at Tai's face, he would stop pitying himself and pity Tai instead.

Soon enough, Tai was at home. He had been tossed on the sofa by Matt, who was currently in Tai's kitchen, attempting to make Tai something to eat. Food always seemed to cheer Tai up. All Matt knew though was to keep an eye on his empty shell of a friend so that way he could help him try and move on from the whole Sora thing. Of course this wouldn't be easy, because once Tai's brain figures that some things go unchanged, he buys into them and doesn't change his mind about them. Sadly, Tai thinks now that he and Sora will never be more than friends.

About three hours past since the end of the meeting at Izzy's house and Kari was walking around the edge of town in a open field which was almost completely surrounded by a very small forest, since most of Japan is rough wasteland. Kari was talking to Gatomon about who knows what, and every thirty seconds she would glance around checking for anything moving in every direction. She didn't wan to be caught off guard by an attack from Michael and Wizardmon. Suddenly, Kari heard the soft footsteps coming from behind her. As she turned around, she closed her eyes shut and threw her fist out towards the source of the sound only to be punching air. Kari opened her eyes, only to see a white colored rabbit run by. "Few," Kari sighed. "It was only a rabbit."

"Yes," A voice coming directly behind Kari replied. "I mean, you never know what might sneak up on you when you walk alone."

Kari began to shake as she turned to see none other than Michael Kenro standing ten feet in front of her.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Michael continued. "We haven't been formally introduced yet. I'm Michael Kenro, though I'm thinking that you already knew that."

Kari remained speechless.

"Okay, well let's just get this over with. If you could give me your crest, it would be very much appreciated. I'd hate to have to fight such a beautiful girl such as yourself."

'Is he hitting on me?' Kari thought. "Tanks for the compliment… I guess?" Kari replied. "But if you want my crest…" She began, trying to calm her nerves. "…you will have to fight me."

Michael just stood their and waited a moment. Kari looked at him strangely, wondering why he was just standing their. Then Michael finally spoke, "Where are the others?"

"What do you mean?" Kari asked, trying to pretend she had no clue what he was talking about.

"Sorry, maybe I should be a little more specific. Where are Takeru, Yolei, and Cody?"

"Why do you think they would come with me?"

"Because I'm not an idiot. No one would come to this area of town without setting up an ambush for me. Or did Izzy forget to mention that I've been spying on you and the others whenever you go to one of your meetings. I know that Takeru, Yolei, Cody, and you were planning on ambushing me so that you could fight me four on one. Now please, tell me where they are?"

Kari could tell that there was softness to his voice. Something strange, like he seem as evil as he was. He seemed like a young version a Tai, he was straightforward, confident, and strangely enough kind. Yet she knew he was a killing machine. He was destroying good digimon, crushing the hearts of the digimon's partner, and collecting the crests for a selfish goal. Or was there more to it than that? No there couldn't be. Michael was evil and had to be stopped. It was time to initiate Izzy's plan.

"Fine, I'll get them," Kari replied giving in. Then she shouted, "GUYS, COME ON OUT!"

As Kari was shouting, Takeru, Yolei, and Cody descended from the sky riding on the back of Aquilamon. Angemon followed Aquilamon as Ankylomon rushed out through the bushes and trees.

"I see your strategy," Michael said with a grin on his face.

"Really then?" Yolei yelled. "Let's then show you what true power is!" Yolei was still yelling at the top of her lungs like what she was saying was so important that the whole world needed to know.

As Yolei, shockingly, quieted down, the four Champion-level digimon began to glow.

"Aquilamon!" Aquilamon yelled.

"Gatomon!" yelled.

"DNADigivole to… Silphymon!" Aquilamon and Gatomon yelled together.

"Ankylomon!" Ankylomon yelled.

"Angemon!" Angemon yelled.

"DNADigivole to… Shakkoumon!" Ankylomon and Angemon yelled together.

The two digimon stopped glowing and stood in front of Michael and Wizardmon poised for battle. Michael just stood where he was with a smirk on his face. "I'm amazed that you guys were able to come up with such an ingenious plan," he said. "DNADigivoling doesn't require any crests to process your energy, so that way Takeru and Kari could fight me without the risk of losing their crests of Hope and Light."

"Izzy was right," Yolei said to her three team-mates. "This guy does know a lot about digivolving."

"Well remember what Izzy said," Cody replied. "Michael spent six years in the digital library. He probably knows almost everything there is to know about the Digital World and the digimon."

"Cody is right," Takeru said. "He might already know how to beat us, so be on guard. This guy is evil enough to do whatever it takes to get the crests."

"But he doesn't seem evil," Kari replied. "I think there is more to him then he is letting on."

"That might be true Kari," Takeru replied back. "But at the moment he is trying to destroy everything. We have to stop him before anyone else gets hurt."

"Agreed," the others agreed.

"Alright, let's do this!" Takeru announced. "Go get them guys!"

"Wizardmon," Michael began. "Be careful. You haven't fought two powerful digimon at the same time before. It might be a little more difficult for you to handle."

"I'll be fine Michael," Wizardmon answered in reply. "We can't afford to lose now."

"You're right. We must finish what we started."

Wizardmon then began to levitate, then he charged forward, aiming his staff at the two Ultimate-level digimon. "Magical Game!" he yelled as green lightning fired from his staff. Silphymon flew up and evaded the attack. Shakkoumon took the attack head on, but the attack did nothing against Shakkoumon's armored body.

"Did you see that?!" Yolei exclaimed.

"Wizardmon's attacks can't harm Shakkoumon," Cody replied to Yolei's cry of joy.

"Get in there and finish him!" Takeru yelled.

Silphymon flew closer to Wizardmon, charging red aura in his hands. "Static Force!" he yelled, launching the attack directly towards Wizardmon. The attack made full contact with Wizardmon, dealing intense physical damage.

While Wizardmon was still lying on the ground, Shakkoumon opened the hole on the front of his armor. "Kachina Bomb!" he said as multiple saw shaped bombs flew out aimed for Wizardmon. Wizardmon saw the attack coming at him and got up to dodge it. He levitated himself across the ground dodging the first few bombs, but was hit by the next one and then by the rest as the came into contact with him.

Silphymon and Shakkoumon continued launching attacks at Wizardmon, who could never avoid both attacks when both digimon attacked at the same time. Wizardmon could always evade the first attack, but then the second attack would make perfect contact with him. The battle was looking bad for Michael and Wizardmon.

"Not much longer," Takeru announced to his team-mates. "Wizardmon has no chance now."

"I love it how you guys make stupid assumptions about me and Wizardmon," Michael said calmly to the opposing Digidestined. "Remember, Wizardmon is only a Champion." Michael then turned towards Wizardmon. "Wizardmon, prepare to grow to your Ultimate level." Michael's crest began to glow a light black color.

Wizardmon began to glow. "Wizardmon digivole to… MegaWizardmon!" A purpled armored spellcaster holding a green staff. Wizardmon had finally digivoled to his Ultimate level.

"Amazing," Kari awed.

"This isn't good," Cody said. "Wizardmon is getting too powerful."

"Good observation Cody," Michael replied. "MegaWizardmon, show them a magic trick."

"Magical Blast!" MegaWizardmon yelled, firing a beam a dark colored magic towards Shakkoumon. The blast collided with the giant digimon forcing Shakkoumon backwards into Silphymon. Silphymon quickly got up and fired a Static Force at MegaWizardmon. "Magical Spell!" MegaWizardmon teleported away from the attack. He reappeared above Silphymon and fired another Magical Blast at Silphymon. The attack blasted Silphymon out of the air, causing the half bird digimon to crash into the ground. MegaWizardmon then appeared besides Silphymon aiming his staff at him, preparing a finishing blow.

"Justice Beam!" yelled Shakkoumon as two red beams were fired from his eyes, smacking MegaWizardmon away from the crater Silphymon was lying in.

Silphymon continued to lie on the ground where he had collided with the earth. Yolei began to become nervous and scared. "Get up Silphymon!" she cried, but Silphymon did not move. "Why won't you get up?!"

"He probably can't Yolei," Cody replied. "That attack from MegaWizardmon was powerful."

"Who knew he was so strong?" Kari added.

MegaWizardmon quickly recovered from the attack and was back on his feat. Shakkoumon's eyes became red again. "Justice Beam!" he cried. The beams head right towards MegaWizardmon. MegaWizardmon only smirked as he swung his staff at the two beams yelling, "Magical Spell!" The two beams were redirected towards the crater in which Silphymon was still half conscious in. The two beams crashed in Silphymon's body forcing him to revert back into Hawkmon and Gatomon, both of which were both unconscious when the reappeared.

"No!" Yolei cried.

Takeru became somewhat irritated. "Come on Shakkoumon!" he screamed. "Destroy him!"

"Such anger, Takeru," Michael replied to Takeru's yelling. "You really must learn to keep a level head in battle."

"Kachina Bomb!" Shakkoumon yelled, opening the launch hole, prepared to fire the saw shaped explosives.

"Magical Blast!" MegaWizardmon yelled. The beam was fired at Shakkoumon. The beam quickly soared through the air, entering the opening to Shakkoumon's Kachina Bomb. The blast caused the bombs in Shakkoumon to explode inside Shakkoumon's body, reverting him into Patamon and Armadillomon.

"No, Shakkoumon!" Takeru cried.

"MegaWizardmon, destroy them," Michael uttered. MegaWizardmon aimed his staff at the four weakened digimon and fired a Magical Blast at them. The attack was intense as a huge explosion resulted from the impact.

"No!" the four Digidestined cried as only smoke was visible.

"Look closer, you might see something interesting," Michael said, pointing to the spot where the smoke was clearing.

Takeru, Kari, Yolei, and Cody concentrated their sight on the smoke lifting to find Patamon and Gatomon still lying on the ground. Yolei and Cody began to cry at the realization that their digimon had not survived the explosion. Kari began to comfort the two and an enraged Takeru went to confront Michael.

Takeru made to two steps before MegaWizardmon appeared next to Michael, ready to defend him in case Takeru tried to attack him. "Why did you spare Patamon and Gatomon?" he asked.

"Is it not obvious?" Michael replied. "I want to fight you two again. It's the only way to ensure that you'll bring your crests. If I had destroyed all four of them, then there would be no reason for you to need your crests in battle. You and Kari would have hidden them for good and I would never be able to get them."

"Well who says that will fight you again?"

"Really Takeru? I know you too well. You despise evil creeps like me. Ever since Devimon, you have made it your personal mission to destroy any evil that threatens separating you from Patamon. Now, I expect you and Kari to be here in one hour with your crests. Will battle then."

"Only an hour?!"

"Yes. It will prove to be an interesting fight."

Takeru was becoming more and more enraged. He couldn't stand the calmness of Michael. Michael thought of this to be just a game, in Takeru's mind. "Fine! We'll be here in an hour with our crests."

"Perfect. Then I'll let the two of you rest and get the crests. I'll see you in an hour." Michael turned and began to walk into the forest with MegaWizardmon, but then he turned around to face Takeru once more. "Oh and one last thing. Come alone. If anyone else is with you, you guys won't be able to find us." Then he continued walking and disappeared from sight along with MegaWizardmon.

"Michael," Takeru clenched his hands in fists of rage. "I'll destroy you!"

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Note: I've run out of thing to say. So just R&R.


	7. Hopeful or Hopeless

DISCLAIMER: I will never, in the history of my entire lifetime, own Digimon.

Author's Note: Here's Chapter Seven. I know I haven't updated the story the story in a while, but I had to study my ass off for mid-terms, and that took up all of my free time. I still have more I need to study for as of the moment so I might take even longer to post chapter eight. Anyway don't let my ranting keep you from reading my work.

That said… enjoy!

The Courage to Face the Darkness

Chapter Seven- Hopeful or Hopeless

An hour had past since the battle between the two DNADigivoled digimon and MegaWizardmon occurred. Takeru and Kari were now standing back on the same field where the earlier battle had been fought. The two Digidestined had returned home to retrieve their crests from the places where they were hidden. They were now anxiously awaiting the arrival of Michael Kenro and Wizardmon so that they could finish the battle they had started.

"I'm glad you could come," spoke a voice. Takeru and Kari jerked their heads in the direction of the voice to find Michael standing there with Wizardmon beside him. "I assume you came alone?"

"Yes," Takeru answered.

"Add you brought your crests?"

"Yes."

"Good. Then let's begin." Michael nodded his head towards Wizardmon.

Wizardmon nodded back at Michael. Wizardmon began to glow. "Wizardmon digivole to… MegaWizardmon!" he yelled as he reached his Ultimate form.

"Patamon…!" Takeru began.

"Gatomon…!" Kari added.

"…digivole!" They finished together.

"Patamon digivole to… Angemon!" Angemon yelled while digivolving. "Angemon digivole to… MagnaAngemon!"

"Gatomon digivole to… Angewomon!" Angewomon yelled.

"Magical Blast!" MegaWizardmon yelled, firing a burst of mystic energy at MagnaAngemon and Angewomon.

Angewomon flew in front of the blast and extended her arm. "Celestial Arrow!" she said, firing an arrow of pure light directly into the Magical Blast attack, slicing through it like a knife into butter. The arrow then struck MegaWizardmon temporarily paralyzing him.

"Here's my chance," MagnaAngemon said, flying over to the stunned MegaWizardmon. When he got close enough to him he stopped. "Now you die! Gate of Destiny!" MagnaAngemon then sliced a circle into the air in front of him, creating a gate which opened showing nothing but a white abyss.

The gate started sucking in the air around it, causing MegaWizardmon to move slowly towards it. MegaWizardmon still couldn't move and the closer he got to the gate the closer he was to being destroyed.

"Alright MagnaAngemon!" Takeru exclaimed. He then turned his attention towards Michael. "See what eventually happens to all evil. It gets destroyed by the good." A tone of anger in Takeru's voice could be heard.

"Takeru," Michael began. "You hold such anger towards every digimon you think is evil."

"Of course I do. Evil digimon and evil people like you who want nothing but power are nothing but scum. You think that others are meaningless and that if you can gain any small amount of power by destroying them, then it's worth it."

"Well this might not come as a surprise to you Takeru, but I am the holder of the crest of Darkness. The power of my crest comes from endurance of pain, and the pursuit of power. And the power I seek is the power of all ten crests. Then no one can push me around and take away what is mine. Now prepare to hand over your crests, because this battle is not over just yet

MegaWizardmon was about a foot away from the gate. MegaWizardmon began to move his right hand, which he was holding his staff in. He was slowly gaining feeling back in his body. "Magical Spell," he muttered, as a puff of smoke appeared where he had been.

"He escaped!" Kari uttered in amazement.

"Look closer!" Takeru responded pointing at the now disappearing smoke cloud. The smoke vanished and Angewomon was in its place. "MagnaAngemon stop your attack!"

"Magna Slash!" MagnaAngemon yelled, slicing the gate in half from its back side.

"Just in time," Kari said, recovering from the state of shock seeing Angewomon being sucked into the Gate of Destiny caused.

"I can't believe he was just toying with us," Takeru muttered loud enough so that Kari could hear him. "What hope do we have for winning if we can't land a straight forward attack?"

"Don't say that Takeru!" Kari replied. "We've taken down stronger digimon than this."

"Yah but…" Takeru began dropping his head down.

"She's right Takeru," Michael cut in.

"Huh…?" Takeru looked up at his enemy.

"I can't believe you're a digidestined," Michael continued. "While I was in the Digital Library of History, I watched the all of the original digidestined and the newer ones destroy some of the strongest digimon created. Some of them were stronger than I am right now. And you Takeru, I'm disappointed. You were the one digidestined that never lost hope, yet you're about to give up right now. You're pathetic."

Takeru was exerting anger now. "I haven't lost hope yet!" he shouted.

"Really, then prove it."

"I'll show you! Come on Kari, let's crush this guy!"

"Yah, let's!" Kari replied.

Both Takeru's and Kari's crests began to glow stronger than ever. "Go get him guys!" they shouted together.

MagnaAngemon and Angewomon began to glow. "What a strange feeling of power," MagnaAngemon stated.

"I agree," Angewomon agreed.

"MagnaAngemon digivole to… Seraphimon!" Seraphimon yelled.

"Angewomon digivole to… Magnadramon!" Magnadramon yelled.

Now there stood two powerful Mega-level digimon facing off against an Ultimate-level digimon. Seraphimon and Magnadramon verses MegaWizardmon.

"We don't need to hope to beat you Michael!" Takeru shouted. "Because we know that we're strong enough to defeat you!"

"Really, then prove that too," Michael said in response.

"Destroy him Seraphimon!"

"Crush him Magnadramon!" Kari yelled.

"Strike of the Seven Stars!" Seraphimon yelled, firing seven bright yellow stars out of the air.

"Heaven's Blast!" Magnadramon yelled firing a beam of white light from her mouth.

Both attack struck MegaWizardmon, causing a huge explosion. Smoke engulfed the entire battlefield. Nothing could be seen. "Did we win?" Takeru asked, trying to see through the dense smoke. When the smoke cleared, nothing remained except for disintegrating data, and the image of Seraphimon and Magnadramon. "We won!"

"I… lost?" Michael muttered. "How?" Tears formed in his eyes.

"You picked a fight with us, that's how you lost!"

"It's finally over," Kari said with relief. "Come back here guys."

Magnadramon turned around, ready to dedigivole, when she was stuck by a blast of energy.

"WHAT?!" Kari screamed, watching what had happened. "Where did that attack come from?!"

"From there!" Takeru yelled pointing into the air. Kari followed where Takeru's finger was pointing. The sight she saw when she looked at the spot was Seraphimon with his arm extended outward, pointed of Magnadramon.

"What?!"

"Seraphimon, what are you doing?!" Takeru yelled.

"Who are you calling Seraphimon," the digimon answered back.

"What are you talking about?" Takeru yelled in response.

"I'll show you," Seraphimon then began to fade as the image of a purple armored man took his place. "Surprised to see me?"

"MegaWizardmon?!" Takeru and Kari yelled together.

"But how?" Kari asked. "We saw MegaWizardmon's data disappear."

"Let me explain," Michael answered wiping his eyes. "Just before Seraphimon's and Magnadramon's attacks landed, MegaWizardmon switch places with Seraphimon so fast that it looked as if Seraphimon was still where he was when the attack finally landed. Then MegaWizardmon used his Magical Spell attack to make himself look like Seraphimon long enough to get into perfect position to land another good attack on Magnadramon. And my fake 'I lost' act made it more believable."

"You monster," Takeru yelled, tears flowing from his eyes.. "You used my digimon as a scapegoat."

"Of course I did. That's why I tried to make you gather up all of your hope. I knew that when Seraphimon and Magnadramon attacked, the blast would be strong enough to destroy one of the two of you. I mean there is almost no chance of an Ultimate defeating two Mega-level digimon. I planned it out so that way no matter how the battle progressed, I would win. I mean taking down one Mega is easy."

"Well, you haven't won yet Michael!" Kari shouted. "Magnadramon can still fight."

Takeru stopped crying for a moment. In that pause of crying he said to Kari, "Take him down."

"Destroy him Magnadramon!" Kari shouted again.

"Heaven's Blast!" Magnadramon yelled as beam of light shot from her mouth at MegaWizardmon.

"Magical Spell!" MegaWizardmon said, disappearing in smoke. He then reappeared with a group of clone illusions in a ring surrounding Magnadramon.

"Magnadramon, they're surrounding you!" Kari yelled to her partner.

"I'll destroy them all!" Magnadramon shouted. She began to spin in a circular motion, like a spinner on a game board. "Heaven's Blast!" The beam was fired, turning with Magnadramon, eliminating every illusion. After the attack, nothing remained in the air except for Magnadramon. "Did I get him?"

"Not yet!" MegaWizardmon replied as he reappeared with twice as many clones. "My turn to attack! Magical Blast!" All of the copies began to charge their staffs.

"Magnadramon, be careful!" Kari yelled.

"Don't worry Kari, only one of them is real!" Magnadramon shouted back. "All I need to do is defend myself against that one attack!" As Magnadramon finished her sentence, one of the MegaWizardmon fired his attack and Magnadramon blocked it with a Heaven's Blast. "Now that I found the real one, I'll finish him. Heaven's Blast!" The attack forcing itself through the MegaWizardmon, destroying its image, but it was only an illusion. "What!"

"Don't assume that I'll use the same move twice!" MegaWizardmon yelled. Just then, all of the MegaWizardmon clones fired their Magical Blasts. Each one struck Magnadramon hard. MegaWizardmon continued to talk, "All the attacks are real. I'm using solid clones."

The attack was merciless. As Kari watched her partner and friend become nothing but data, she cried out, "Magnadramon!"

Magnadramon's data slowly disappeared and with Magnadramon's last breath she muttered, "I'm sorry Kari."

Kari began to join Takeru in his state of crying, the two of them not even noticing MegaWizardmon using his magic to levitate their crests from around their necks and into the hand's of Michael Kenro.

"Sorry Kari," Michael said turning around. "It pained me to do it, but you left me no choice when you refused to not just hand over your crests." He then began walking away but was stopped when he heard Takeru call his name.

"It pained you?!" He yelled. "What a load of garbage! You don't feel bad about anything you do! All you care about is having power!"

"Keep your mouth shout about thing that you don't understand, Takeru!" It was Michael's turn to be angry. "I have my reasons for wanting power!"

"And what…" Takeru began.

"Before you continue, let me finish!" Michael yelled, cutting Takeru off. "You don't know what it is like losing everything. When I was younger, my parents were killed in front of my eyes, and I was powerless to stop it from happening. When I tried to tell others of what happened, they ignored me. I was just a kid. My word meant nothing to others. You couldn't possibly know how I feel. You never lost anything. When Angemon was destroyed in the battle with Devimon, he became a digi-egg and was his old self in no time. When your parents got divorced, you still got to see them. You didn't lose them for good like I did. That is why I want power. No one can ignore me or take away what I care about if I can't be challenged, if people feared me. So don't try to make me feel bad about my actions when I have felt pain that you could never imagine!" Michael's words left Takeru speechless. Michael then walked off, out of sight with MegaWizardmon following him.

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Note: How was it? Just for the record, Heaven's Blast is not Magnadramon's real attack. I just used it instead of her real attacks because they had nothing to do with light and Kari is the digidestined of light. Anyway, your reviews are always welcomed. Until next time, fanyetnot out.


	8. Two Good Plans

DISCLAIMER: I will never, in the history of my entire lifetime, own Digimon.

Author's Note: Here's Chapter Eight. I know I've been gone for a while but I'm back now with chapter eight. I finished my mid-terms, so now I can work on this story (school sucks). I should have the next chapter up within the week.

That said… enjoy!

The Courage to Face the Darkness

Chapter Eight- Two Good Plans

Takeru and Kari had made it back to Izzy's house, a look of failure on their faces. After a few minutes of explaining what had happened, Izzy began to type formulas onto his computer. "Prodigious!" he exclaimed. "Takeru call Ken, Davis, Tai, Matt, and Sora and tell them to get over here right away.

Takeru got on the phone and called everyone of the digidestined that Izzy had asked him to call and within twenty minutes, everyone was there except for Tai.

"Where's Tai?" Izzy asked, looking straight at Matt. "Weren't you with him?"

"Yah…," Matt began, trying to figure out an excuse to tell the others. "Tai isn't feeling too well at the moment. That's why I walked him home. He told me to relay all the information I get from this meeting back to him when it's over."

"Alright, then I guess we should proceed."

'Phew!' Matt thought to himself. Matt knew he had to cover for Tai and was glad the others had bought his lie. Tai at the moment wasn't doing too well though, mentally that is. He had just found out that Sora only considered him a friend and that the reality of Sora loving Tai the same way Tai loved Sora would never come true. At least that is what Tai thought anyway.

"I believe that I have figured out a way to defeat Michael and Wizardmon," Izzy continued.

"That's what you said when we fought him with the DNADigivoled digimon, and that didn't go too well if I recall," Davis replied.

"Yes, but I hadn't calculated that Wizardmon could digivole into an Ultimate-level digimon. Now I know exactly what we are up against."

"So how do we defeat him?" Ken replied. "What's your plan?"

"We use Imperialdramon," Izzy answered.

"Imperialdramon?" Matt asked. "Why him? If two Mega-level digimon couldn't take out MegaWizardmon, how can one Mega-level can?"

"It's quite simple Matt," Izzy answered. "His Giga Crusher attack."

"Isn't that the attack that destroyed MaloMyotismon?" Sora asked.

"Yes it was," Izzy responded. "If my calculations are correct, if Imperialdramon charged up the attack to its full power, then the resulting blast should be powerful enough to destroy Wizardmon, even if he digivoles into a Mega-level form."

"Alright Izzy!" Davis exclaimed. "Way to use that head of yours!"

"Too bad you can't use your head Davis," Matt replied. "Izzy was wrong last time. What if he wrong again?"

"Then we use plan B," Izzy answered.

"And what's plan B?" Ken asked.

"We fight Michael's digimon with Omnimon," Izzy replied.

"You can't be serious Izzy!" Matt yelled. "Omnimon might be too strong for the human world. When we fought Diaboromon those two times, we fought him on the web, where if he missed a shot nothing valuable could be destroyed. Even after Diaboromon digivoled into Armageddenmon in the human world, Omnimon was able to strike him with his attacks because Armageddenmon was a huge target."

"I know that Matt!" Izzy responded. "But if Imperialdramon is to fail then we'll have no other choice! Luckily, if I'm correct and Imperialdramon can defeat Wizardmon with his Giga Crusher, then we won't need to resort to Omnimon."

"Fine," Matt sighed, knowing Izzy was right.

"Good then, now everyone can leave, except for Davis and Ken. I want to go over attack strategies with you."

Since the meeting was over, Takeru and Kari left. Matt stuck around though since Sora hadn't left yet, though she was about ready to go. Matt wanted to talk to her about Tai. Matt considered Tai to be his best friend so he wanted to try to find out directly from Sora if there was any possible chance that she loved Tai.

Matt had known Tai was in love with Sora for a while now. In fact Matt knew before Tai even knew it himself. He could just tell Tai loved her by the way his acted around her since he had met them when they first became digidestined. It was only two weeks ago that Tai even realized that he was in love with Sora. Matt remembered the night perfectly, since Matt was the first and only person Tai even told.

-Flashback-

_"What?!" Matt yelled shockingly, sticking his fingers in his ears trying to see if they were clogged, thinking that his misheard the news Tai had just told him._

_"You heard me Matt," Tai repeated. "I'm in love with Sora Takenouchi, my best friend."_

_"How?!"_

_"I don't know. Part of me thinks I've been in love with her for a long time. I mean she is my best friend and I'm hers, since we were five I might add, and we both like the same things. Plus there is nothing about her I don't like. She is the kindest and most caring person I know. I love being around her. I dream about her too. I literally can't stop thinking about her!"_

_"Hey, calm down Tai. Take it easy."_

_"I know, it's just weird. This morning I woke up, got ready for the day, spent time with Sora, which I usually do everyday, and when I left to go home I realized that I'm in love with her. It's a little overwhelming. And there is one problem with me being in love with Sora."_

_"And what would that be?"_

_"If I tell her and she doesn't feel the same way, then I risk ruining our friendship. She might then begin to feel awkward around me and stop spending time with me. I'd rather keep her as just a friend then not have her in my life at all."_

_"Well that's a stupid reason. You should just tell her. Even if she says no it isn't the end of the world. If you guys are best friends, then you telling her this won't ruin it. She will still be your friend."_

_"I don't know Matt. Maybe? I'll have to think about it. Thanks."_

-End of Flashback-

Of course he never told her. Now he's a mess and it was up to Matt to get Tai back on his feet, and to do that, he needed Sora to tell him something that Tai would love to hear.

Matt snapped back to reality to find that Sora was no longer in Izzy's home. "Darn it, she left!" he yelled. "I drift off for a minute and she leaves!" Matt rushed outside and jerked his head left and right. He then found what he was looking for. Sora was a block away. He quickly ran over to her. When he caught up to her he tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey… Sora."

"Oh hey Matt," she replied. "Do you need something?"

"Yah, I need to talk to you."

"Sure. What do you need to talk to me about?"

"I need to talk to you about Tai."

"What about him?"

"Well I was just wondering…"

"Wondering what Matt?"

Matt hadn't really planned this out. "Uh… what do you think of him?"

"What kind of question is that? He is my best friend."

"No, I meant why do you spend so much time with him. Isn't a little weird that Tai is your best friend. The too of you seem inseparable when your together."

"Well isn't it obvious? Tai is a fun guy. He's great. There is nothing I don't like about him."

Those words hit Matt straight in his face. "That is a weird way to describe a friend, since most friends don't like everything about each other. I think there is something a little more to the two of you."

Sora became a little annoyed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I think you consider Tai as something more than a friend."

"What makes you say that?"

"It's just that you guys would spend every waking moment together. You guy are a like in so many ways. You two seem perfect together."

Suddenly, Sora became confused. She did love to spend time with him. In fact, she spent more time with him than anyone else. A look of realization came over her face. "Oh my god, I think I might be in love with Tai?!"

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Note: Dun, dun, duuunnn. How was it? I know I really haven't written anything about Tai and Sora spending time together, but you have to assume that they do. They **ARE** best friends. Anyway R&R if you want.


	9. Giga Crushed

DISCLAIMER: I will never, in the history of my entire lifetime, own Digimon.

Author's Note: Here's Chapter Nine. Sorry I'm not updating as much as I usually do, but I wanted this chapter to be really good. I wrote and deleted about nine different versions before settling with this one. The next chapter will be done really soon or in about a week in a half.

That said… enjoy!

The Courage to Face the Darkness

Chapter Nine- Giga Crushed

Davis and Ken were aimlessly walking about town, searching for Michael and Wizardmon. It was about 5:00 now. "I can't believe so much happened today," Davis said looking over at Ken.

"I know what you mean, Davis," Ken replied. "In less than six hours, Michael and Wizardmon were able to defeat six digidestined and obtain four crests."

"Who does that jerk Michael think he is? Doesn't he know that he's hurting others to get something that could destroy the world? And more importantly, he made Kari cry!"

Ken then thought back to the words Takeru told him. They were the words that Michael had used in the speech he said after he destroyed Patamon and Gatomon. _'You don't know what it is like losing everything.' 'When I tried to tell others of what happened, they ignored me. I was just a kid. My word meant nothing to others. You couldn't possibly know how I feel. You never lost anything.'_ "He's just in pain, Davis."

"What do you mean pain?"

"Remember what Izzy told us? When he was younger, his parents were killed by a digimon. He lost everything that he had cared about. Think about it Davis. He just is trying to ease his pain and he doesn't know how."

"So what, we just let him have the remaining four crests and let both worlds be destroyed! We have to stop him!"

"I know that Davis. But instead of just trying to destroy his digimon, let's try reasoning with him. Maybe we can save him? Just like you guys did when I was the Digimon Emperor. You guys saved me from the darkness, the same darkness that he's in. Let's save him too."

"I don't think I can be saved, Ken." Davis, Ken, Veemon, and Wormmon turned around to find Michael talking to them. Wizardmon stood next to him. "I've done too many terrible things over the past two days, plus I can't stop now when I'm so close. I need the power of all twelve crests. I haven't completed the one goal I made when I set out to collect all twelve crests."

"But Michael," Ken began. The digidestined saved me. You are also a digidestined. Let us save you."

"Thank you Ken, but I don't need to be saved. You were saved because you have the crest of Kindness. I have the crest of Darkness, meaning I am destined to have pain and power. I'm sorry Ken, I have only respect for you, but I must take your crest."

"In that case I have no choice but to fight you head on. Ready Davis?!"

"Of course I am!" Davis replied.

"Okay guys, digivole!" Davis and Ken yelled together.

"Veemon digivole to… ExVeemon!" ExVeemon yelled.

"Wormmon digivole to… Stingmon!" Stingmon yelled.

"ExVeemon…"

"Stingmon…"

"…DNADigivole to… Paildramon!" They yelled in unison. "Paildramon mega digivole to… Imperialdramon! Imperialdramon mode change to… fighter mode!"

"Wizardmon, digivole," Michael said.

Wizardmon leaped forward as he began to glow. "Wizardmon digivole to… MegaWizardmon!" he yelled.

", start charging your Giga Crusher attack!" Davis shouted.

"Davis!" Ken yelled at his friend. "Why don't you tell him our backup plan as well?!"

"You mean using Om…" Ken threw his hand over Davis's mouth, shutting him up.

"Giga Crusher, huh," Michael said to himself. "Looks like they've been using their heads to form a good plan this time." Michael directed his attention towards his partner. "Attack before they can!"

"Right!" MegaWizardmon called back. "Magical Blast!" A beam of magic shot through the air, landing straight into Imperialdramon's upper chest. The attack hit Imperialdramon's armor and did nothing.

"Did you see that Davis?" Ken said. "Imperialdramon is on such a high level, that MegaWizardmon's attack didn't even scratch him!"

"Now's your chance Imperialdramon!" Davis shouted. "Strike now!"

"Yes, Davis!" Imperialdramon yelled back. "Positron Laser!" A powerful laser beam was shot out of Imperialdramon's arm cannon, flashed through the air, and landed a vicious blow onto MegaWizardmon.

"Don't let up!"

"Positron Laser!" A second laser was fired.

"Try and dodge it MegaWizardmon!" Michael called out. MegaWizardmon tried to teleport away from the attack, but was too slow and the laser beam hit him. Imperialdramon continued pouring out Positron Laser attacks at MegaWizardmon. It was almost like machinegun fire. Each beam was just as fast and powerful as the last one. MegaWizardmon was able to dodge and redirect a few of the beams, but he mostly ended up getting struck but the beams. Soon enough, MegaWizardmon stood on the ground, parts of his purple colored armor cracked or in small pieces on the ground surrounding him. He could barely defend himself.

"Now Imperialdramon!" Davis shouted. "Strike him with Giga Crusher!"

"No Davis, we should wait a little longer," Ken replied. "We don't know if this is a trick or not. If we miss or the blast doesn't actually destroy him, Imperialdramon will have drained all of his power. He'll be defenseless. A powerful attack always has destructive side effects."

"Still, if we don't attack now, he could escape and come back stronger."

"Fine we'll attack. I just hope it works."

"Go ahead and fire your Giga Crusher attack, Imperialdramon!"

"Roger that!" Imperialdramon yelled. "Giga Crusher!" Imperialdramon's chest plate opened up, revealing a hidden beam cannon. The cannon was fully charged and began firing. A white beam of energy came soaring out of it, directed at the helpless looking MegaWizardmon.

MegaWizardmon just continued to stand there, holding his staff up trying to gather up enough energy to teleport, but MegaWizardmon didn't have enough energy within himself to pull off his escape plan. "No!" Michael cried out. "I can't lose MegaWizardmon. He's the last thing I have that is like family to me. I can't lose him! I haven't even accomplished my goal! I need more power! Come on MegaWizardmon! Show them that you can still win!"

Just then, MegaWizardmon began to glow again. Michael's emotions triggered the crest of Darkness around his neck. "Thank you Michael, for giving me this rush of energy," MegaWizardmon spoke to his friend. MegaWizardmon was now completely healed. No cracks could be seen in his armor or any scratches on his skin. MegaWizardmon continued to glow though. He was digivolving. "MegaWizardmon digivole to… MysticWizardmon!" Now, in the place where MegaWizardmon had stood, a dark color armored sage stood. He resembled MegaWizardmon, except that his entire body wasn't covered with armor, only his top half, and the bottom was covered with a gray robe-like cloak. His staff was also pretty much the same except that it had there spikes that came out of the top and then curved in with a green orb attached at the very top. MysticWizardmon, Wizardmon's Mega-level form, now stood only a few inches away from the Giga Crusher attack. A few seconds later, the attack exploded and a thick layer of smoke now was visible on the battlefield.

"Did we… get him?" Davis asked, choking on the smoke.

"I… don't… know Davis," Ken responded.

"Mystic Blast!" a familiar voice cried as a ball of magical energy soared through the smoke, striking Imperialdramon hard causing him to fall and crash land on the ground. But before anyone could realize exactly what had happened, MysticWizardmon leaped into the air, levitating himself in midair, and pointed his staff again at Imperialdramon. "Mystic Blast!" he yelled again, this time a bigger ball of energy was launched. It only took a second for the attack to land the finishing blow as Davis and Ken watched Imperialdramon de-digitalize.

Davis and Ken could only look in horror at the site of their best friends last few moments. Imperialdramon began to speak though, "We're sorry… we let you guys down."

"What are you talking about?" Ken replied, tears flooding his eyes. "You did everything that you could. You guys couldn't have predicted this."

Imperialdramon was almost gone now. He spoke one last sentence before his disappeared, "We'll miss you guys. We love you."

"We love you too," Davis spoke crying like a five year old child, but it was too late. Imperialdramon was gone.

Michael then walked over to Ken. "What a twist that was, wasn't it?" he said. "I was pretty sure that MegaWizardmon was a goner. I'll be needing your crest now." Ken took this crest out from around his neck and handed it over to Michael. "Thank you Ken. How kind of you. Well, you do have the crest of Kindness or should I say, had the crest of Kindness." Michael then turned and started walking.

"Why did you just hand your crest over to that guy, Ken?!" Davis yelled at his friend. "Couldn't you have at least put up a fight."

"No Davis, I couldn't have," Ken responded. "He would have gotten the crest no matter what I did. Besides, I know I'll get my crest back. I'll get mine back when you return them back to the rest of the digidestined." Ken was now directing his attention towards Michael. "You hear that Michael? I won't give up on you Michael and neither will the other digidestined. We can still save you."

"Thanks Ken for the kind words, but I told you I can't be saved," Michael replied. "Now, let me be on my way."

"Not so fast there Michael Kenro!" a blond haired teen shouted. Everyone turned their heads to see Matt and Sora behind Davis and Ken, Matt on MetalGarurumon and Sora on Garudamon. "Davis, I'm not sure if your brain is intelligent enough to work a phone, but call Tai and tell him to get over here, it's time for plan B."

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Note: How was my ninth written idea for this chapter? Oh and here's a small side note: it emotionally and physically pained me to type Sora's name and Matt's name in the same sentence joining them with the word and (as seen in the last paragraph). That is just hoe much I love Taiora and how much I hate Sorato. R&R. See you soon with chapter ten hopefully.


	10. To Try and Fail

DISCLAIMER: I will never, in the history of my entire lifetime, own Digimon.

Author's Note: Here's Chapter Ten. Sorry again. I don't even remember the last time I updated this story. I've just been busy. My friend recently had some girlfriend related problems and I had to help him with those. Now that he's over his breakup, I can get back to my story since there are like two more chapters left. (There could be more.) Anyway since no one actually cares since I think my last chapter only got one review, I'll stop this note with the same three word (and a three period pause) phrase:

That said… enjoy!

The Courage to Face the Darkness

Chapter Ten- To Try and Fail

Michael Kenro turned towards Matt and Sora. "Looks like I can't leave just yet," he said. "Well it isn't all bad. You two just saved me the trouble of finding you."

Matt looked around, and then looked at MysticWizardmon. He observed him closely. There weren't more than a few harmless scratches on him. "Davis, Ken, I thought you two had Imperialdramon fire his Giga Crusher attack?" Matt asked. "Did you miss?"

"The attack hit MysticWizardmon head on," Ken replied. "The attack didn't do much damage though."

"Well it shouldn't have," Michael said, everyone turning their heads towards him now. "The attack wasn't too strong against MysticWizardmon's armor spell. Projectile attacks, like your laser, don't do more than half damage against it."

_'This guy is unbelievable,'_ Matt thought. _'When I saw the explosion in the distance, I didn't think that MysticWizardmon would have this little damage.'_

Flashback

Matt was standing while Sora was seated on the sidewalk, Sora with here hands against her forehead. "I can't believe it I'm in love with Tai," Sora said.

"I heard you the first time," Matt replied. "The person you should be telling is Tai."

"Shut it Matt! You try going through what I am. You never realized that you were in love with anyone you've know for most of your life! Besides, I can't just tell him. We're too good of friends. What if I tell him and he doesn't fell the same way. Telling him might ruin our friendship. I'd rather keep him then lose him for good."

_'That's the same thing Tai said,'_ Matt thought to himself. _'These two __**must**__ be made for each other.'_

"What do you think Matt?" Sora asked, interrupting Matt's current thoughts.

"Well to be honest Sora…" Matt began. "Tai actually…" Suddenly, a huge explosion was heard, cutting off Matt's sentence. The two digidestined turned to see Imperialdramon collapsing on the ground. Matt then turned to Sora. "Let's finish discussing this later. We'll sort through it after we go help Davis and Ken. It's not like your newfound love for Tai is going to help us with Michael and Wizardmon."

"Right," Sora agreed. "I'll put my feelings aside for now. Let's go help the others." The two then raced off in the direction of the explosion.

End of Flashback

"Guess it can't be helped," Matt said. "We'll start the fight and weaken him. This way, when Tai gets here we'll finish him off."

"Got it," Sora replied. "I'll try my hardest." _'I need to focus on this fight,'_ Sora thought. _'I can't think about Tai. Matt's right. Telling Tai my feelings isn't going to help us at the moment. I'll deal with them when the time comes. I just hope that he feels the same way.'_

"Good," Matt replied. He then turned his attention to Davis and Ken. "Davis, once you get a hold of Tai, go to Izzy's and update him on what happened. Got it, or is your brain still trying to figure out how to work a phone?"

"I got it Matt!" Davis yelled back, dialing his phone while heading in the direction of Izzy's place.

Everything seemed quiet at the Kamiya residence. No one was trying to burn food. The television set was off. Tai, himself, sat in a corner in his room, staring at the center of the floor with a dull look in his eyes. He had been moping all day in his room. Agumon was there, and had tried to snap Tai out of his state of sulking, but failed and gave up until something would catch Tai's attention. Suddenly the phone rang. Tai continued to stare at the floor, oblivious to the fact that someone important might be calling. Agumon rushed to the phone, knocking over the table in the process, but managed to pick the phone up. "Hello?" he answered.

"Tai, are you feeling well?" Davis asked. "Your voice seems weird?"

"Davis, it's me, Agumon," Agumon answered. "Tai can't come to the phone at the moment. I'll take a message for him. And what's wrong with my voice?!"

After a few minutes of explaining himself, Davis relayed the information, telling Tai to come to the battle site so that way they could finally put an end to Michael and Wizardmon. Agumon then hung up and ran into Tai's room.

"Tai wake up!" Agumon yelled. "They need you to help them, Tai!"

Tai, now somewhat aware that Agumon was in front of him answered in a soft tone, "What's the point?"

"What's the point?! The fate of both worlds is at stake! Everyone is counting on you."  
"So what?"

"What about Sora, Tai? Didn't you promise her that you would protect her? Well right now she's in the middle of fighting with Michael and Wizardmon. She'll need your help." Agumon then hit Tai straight in the face. "Come on Tai!"

Suddenly, Tai realized that Agumon was right. He had promised Sora. Even if they may never be together, he needed to be there for her. He was her best friend after all. Tai then stood up. "You're right Agumon. Let's go." And in no time the two raced out of the house and off to meet Sora and Matt.

Tai and Agumon arrived at the battlefield seven minutes after they left, almost out of breath. The stood in shock as they saw MetalGarurumon and Garudamon flat on the ground and MysticWizardmon standing in front of them unscathed.

"'Bout time you two showed up!" Matt yelled. "Quickly, digivole so that way we can form Omnimon!"

"Alright, Matt!" Tai shouted back. "Agumon, ready?"

"Yep!" Agumon shouted.

"Ok then, digivole!" Agumon closed his eyes and concentrated his energy, but nothing happened. "What?! Why didn't anything happen?"

"Tai, what's taking so long?!" Matt yelled. "Hurry up! We don't have much time left!"

Michael then began to speak, "Just as I had thought. You're trying to form Omnimon. Too bad, but I can allow you guys to gain the upper hand. MysticWizardmon, destroy them!"

And with a flash of energy from MysticWizardmon's staff, a beam of magic made its way towards the collapsed MetalGarurumon. "No!" Matt cried as he ran to his partner just as the blast impacted MetalGarurumon. As the smoke cleared from the attack, Matt was the only one seen on the ground, unconscious, as his crest bounced on the ground away from him and right to the feet of Michael Kenro.

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Note: If anyone is still reading this, please review my story. Even though I'm busy, I still have time to read reviews. Until next time (which I'm going to try and make it New Year's Eve). Next chapter is going to have the moment every Taiora fan hopes for.


	11. The Courage to Love

DISCLAIMER: I will never, in the history of my entire lifetime, own Digimon.

Author's Note: Here's Chapter Eleven. Once again, sorry. I really tried to get this one ready sooner, but I had some trouble writing it. I also had to study up for final examinations in all of my classes, and I will continue to have to until next Friday. Hopefully I will be able to write up my next chapter soon.

That said… enjoy!

The Courage to Face the Darkness

Chapter Eleven- The Courage to Love

The blanket of dense smoke finally lifted. With it gone, the image of Michael Kenro picking up the crest of Friendship, Matt lying unconscious in a crater, and lost look of hope on the faces of both Tai and Sora. Tai looked, unable to move at the ground, tears forming and then rolling down his face. _'It's all my fault,'_ he thought. _'It's all my fault. I couldn't make Agumon digivole. MetalGarurumon is dead because I couldn't make Agumon digivole. And Matt is hurt now, lying in a ditch where his best friend was blasted into nothing. It's all my fault. What kind of leader am I? I've done nothing so far in this fight. The reason being I can't. If I can't even gather up the courage to tell a girl I love her, how am I supposed to fight someone eight times stronger than me. It's all my fault.'_

"Tai, snap out of it!" Sora yelled. "He's coming towards you now!" Tai couldn't hear her. He was trapped in his thoughts, pitying himself.

Michael Kenro walked over and soon enough the fourteen year old was standing over Tai. "What a shame," he spoke. "And I really looked up to the guy. I've never seen someone more pathetic."

"Don't you dare speak about Tai like that!" Sora yelled. "You don't even know him like I do!"

"I don't need to personally know him to see that he is a powerless failure. He couldn't even make his digimon digivole. I had more power when I was eight then him right now."

"Tai is a stronger person then you'll ever be, Michael. He isn't a cruel, destructive beast like you. He is a courageous, kindhearted, loving guy. Sure he can be a knucklehead or stubborn sometimes, but it only shows he's human. I love the kind of person he is. I wouldn't want him any different."

_'Love?' _Tai thought._ 'Did she just say love?'_

"Touching, but my opinion of him isn't any different," Michael replied. "I should just take his crest from him now. It seems powerless in his hands." Michael stretched his arm out and moved it towards the crest of Courage, hanging around Tai's neck.

"No you won't!" Sora screamed. "Garudamon will stop you first!" Garudamon flew up and went to grab Michael within her giant hand.

Michael retracted his hand and turned around. "Please, you're not in a position to tell me what to do. MysticWizardmon…" And without even needing to finish his sentence, MysticWizardmon fired his Mystic Blast attack. The attack collided head on into Garudamon, forcing her to crash into the ground by Sora, de-digivolving into Biyomon.

"Biyomon!" Sora ran to her, picking her up and holding her in her arms.

Suddenly, Tai snapped out of his delusional state. "What did you do to her?" he asked, rising from the ground.

"Good to see you standing again," Michael replied jokingly, with a smirk and a conceited attitude.

"I'll ask again. What did you do to Sora?" anger was in his voice.

"I didn't do a thing to her. I just had MysticWizardmon attack Garudamon to distract her and, more importantly, wake you from your state of self pity."

"What?"

"I wanted to see if I was wrong about your lack of courage. The only way to see for sure was to see you conscious. And now that I'm given this chance, I can see that I was wrong about being wrong about you. You're still a weak, scared, seventeen year old failure. You were good two years ago during the MaloMyotismon attack, but now you're just a failure."

"I'm no failure, Michael."

"Really? Then why can't you tell Sora that you love her?"

"What?! How do you kn…?"

"I told you guys, I've been watching you digidestined for years. I knew before even you did. I mean, if you can't find the courage to tell Sora your feelings for her, then how can you have any courage to face me?"

"I might not have been too courageous these past two week, but today that will change. I'm not going to let you win. I've found my courage."

"Really? Then prove it." Michael looked at MysticWizardmon and nodded his head.

MysticWizardmon replied by nodding his head. He then aimed his staff towards Sora. "Mystic Blast!" he yelled, firing a slightly slower blast.

"I leave the rest to you, Tai," Michael finished.

Tai panicked. The girl he loved was about to be blow to bits. 'What do I do?!' he thought. He knew what he had to do though. His crest began to glow a bright orange color. Tai began to run as fast as he could in Sora's direction. He couldn't feel his feet against the destroyed ground beneath him because he was running so fast. He then jumped, landed next to Sora, striking her with his shoulder which pushed her away from the incoming energy blast. Sora stumbled backwards, still holding onto Biyomon, and fell and few feet away, watching as Tai was stuck standing in the exact spot the blast was heading for.

"…," Sora opened her mouth to shout something, but it was too late for words as the blast impacted the ground and Tai could not be seen, for a thick layer of smoke shrouded the air. "Tai?!" Sora cried. No answer came. "Tai?!" she cried again, tears forming in her eyes, hoping to hear an answer this time.

Suddenly, Sora heard a groan. She rushed over to the impacted ground, the smoke clearing as she drew closer to the origin of the noise. When she got to the area where Tai was hit, she found him lying on the ground face-up. She kneeled down placing Biyomon next to her. She stared at Tai, tears still in her eyes. "Tai?" she whispered.

Tai opened his eyes. "Sora?" he replied. "Are you okay?" Tai tried to get up, but he was in too much pain.

"Don't try and get up Tai, your body's all beat up. Try and rest."

"Are you okay, though?"

"I'm fine Tai," she answered in a gentle tone of voice, which then rose in volume becoming somewhat annoyed. "What were you thinking?! Are you insane?! That blast could have killed you!"

"As long as you're okay, I don't care. That blast could have killed you, Sora. I probably couldn't live without you in my life. Me taking the attack instead might have been crazy and not too well planned out, but you don't think straight when you're in love with the person you're trying to save."

Tai's words struck Sora hard. "L… love… Di… did you just say… love?"

"Yes Sora, love. I couldn't find the courage to say it before, but now I've found it. Sora, I love you. I know you probably just think I'm your friend, and if you don't feel the same way, that's fine, I'll find a way to deal with that, but it is something that I just needed to tell you."

Sora was speechless.

Tai continued, "I never thought I would ever care about someone else this way. It isn't everyday I jump in front of a digimon's fatal attack for someone without thinking. I'm just that in love with you. I just love everything about you. You're the most caring, kindhearted person I know. Even when you yell at me for some stupid thing I've done or when I'm being really stubborn, I know that you're just watching out for me. True, you can be stubborn too, but that's one quality I love about you. In fact, I love everything about you. Your auburn hair and eyes, your love of soccer and tennis, your overprotective nature, your love of rain. I could probably name about a million other things I love about you, but I think I've made my point."

Sora was still speechless.

Tai began to speak again, his crest continuing to glow. "Sora, I would gladly repeat taking an energy blast for you. I don't regret any of this. I'm never going to stop loving you, Sora. Like I said before, I know that you probably don't feel the same way about me, but I…"Tai stopped talking because he saw something placed over his mouth.

Sora had placed her pointer finger over his lips. "You don't need to finish that sentence Tai," she said.

"Why not?" Tai asked, Sora's finger still on his lips.

"This is why," Sora replied, bringing her head closer to Tai's head. Sora's crest began to glow red. Her lips then embraced Tai's lips, creating a brief, yet passionate, kiss. During the kiss, Tai's body slowly began to hear some of the minor wounds he had gotten from MysticWizardmon's attack. When their lips finally separated, Sora continued to speak, "I love you too, Tai. I love you for the same reason you love me. I love everything about you." The two then kissed again, this one lasting slightly longer. When they separated again, Sora continued to speak again. "I knew I had loved you for a while, but it wasn't until I had a talk with Matt, that he opened my eyes. I love you, Tai. There is no doubt in my mind."

'This is a dream come true,' Tai thought. 'I guess I'm going to have to thank Matt too.'

Tai and Sora began to bring their heads together for another kiss, when a voice interrupted the moment and brought them back to reality. Michael was talking. "How sweet, I could cry," he said. "Too bad I'm here to ruin it for you. We're still fighting. Now unless you plan to die in the crater, I'd find a way to counter attack this."

At the very moment Michael finished his sentence, MysticWizardmon flew down in front of Michael, pointing his staff at Tai and Sora. "Mystic Blast!" MysticWizardmon cried out, launching a power blast of magical energy at the couple. Tai and Sora could only watch in horror as the blast flew directly toward their eyes.

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Note: I know what most of you are thinking, Tai finally did it. Now you see why I had to spend so much time on this chapter. I think this is the final copy of my seventh draft of this chapter. I have never had to write a scene like this so seven drafts doesn't seem surprising to me but it was annoying to have to write them all. Please review. Only two chapters remain. The countdown begins.


	12. Blazing Courage

DISCLAIMER: I will never, in the history of my entire lifetime, own Digimon.

Author's Note: Here's ChapterTwelve. I finally wrote it. I would have had it up much sooner, but I came across one problem. I got bored with writing the story. I don't have much reasoning behind the boredom. All I know is that with there only being one more chapter left after this one, I just feel like I won't need to do anything anymore. This is probably just some phase I'm going through. I'll probably be getting back into the fanfic writing mood soon.

That said… enjoy!

The Courage to Face the Darkness

Chapter Twelve- Blazing Courage

The beam of mystical energy came at Tai and Sora fast. _'Not now,'_ Tai said in his mind. _'Not when I finally admitted to Sora that I loved her. I have to do something now. But what can I do? It doesn't matter what I do as long as I save Sora. I must be brave. I have my courage now. I need to use it.'_

In an instant, the Mystic Blast attack made an impact. The explosion what huge, cloaking the battlefield in smoke. Michael Kenro stood there being a witness to his own victory. He grinned slightly, placing his hands in his pockets, and chuckled a little. "I really thought that Tai was stronger than that. Sadly I've been disappointed. I guess the only thing left to do is go and collect my prizes, the crests of Courage and Love." Michael began the walk over the location he assumed Tai and Sora's unconscious bodies were. As he walked, the smoke began to lift. Suddenly, Michael froze, he was unable to move forward anymore.

The smoke had finally cleared. A yellow human-like dinosaur stood in front of Tai and Sora, holding a grey, with a yellow rim, hexagon shaped shield, which the creature had taken off its back. Furthermore, the creature didn't have a scratch on itself. The creature was WarGreymon, Agumon's Mega-level form. Tai and Sora looked up to see WarGreymon standing there with his shield out. "WarGreymon, you're awesome!" Tai cried out, happy to see that his courage did in fact save himself, Sora, and Biyomon. Tai and Sora then got up, Sora holding Biyomon in her arms. "Now let's end this! Attack, Wargreymon!" Tai and WarGreymon were both glowing a bright orange color.

WarGreymon placed his shield onto his back and flew off, heading towards MysticWizardmon. MysticWizardmon saw lunging at him and fired multiple Mystic Blast attacks at him. WarGreymon moved around, avoiding each of the magical beams. WarGreymon then extended him right arm quickly, attempting to slash at MysticWizardmon. MysticWizardmon met the attack with him staff, countering it. MysticWizardmon then retaliated, firing another Mystic Blast attack. This time, it hit WarGreymon dead on. The attack pushed WarGreymon back, forcing the digimon into the ground below him.

After the impact, WarGreymon rose himself up. Not a scratch could be seen on him. Michael looked in awe while Tai stared in excitement. "How could WarGreymon not have a single scratch on him?" Michael said, speaking to himself. "MysticWizardmon hit him with two powerful attacks and neither one did any damage to him. Tai's courage and strength must be incredible to be able to fuel WarGreymon like this. This power is rivaling the power of the other crests."

"Terra Force!" WarGreymon yelled, as he launched a giant, red colored ball of fire through the air, aimed at MysticWizardmon.

The Terra Force attack approached MysticWizardmon at amazing speed. "Mystic Spell!" MysticWizardmon yelled, vanishing and reappearing in the same place, evading the ball of flames.

WarGreymon the sprung up, flying at untold speeds at MysticWizardmon. MysticWizardmon used another Mystic Spell and dodged the attack in the same way as he had dodged the Terra Force attack. The two then began flying around, firing their projectile attacks at each other and dodging the other's attacks.

The battle raged on. No end was in sight. The two digimon were evenly matched. Tai was yelling at the top of his lungs, cheered on his partner. "You can do it, WarGreymon! Don't give in! You can win this!"

Michael continued to watch in amazement. _'I knew he was strong,'_ Michael thought. _'But I didn't believe that he was capable of this kind of strength. He really does deserve to be the leader of the digidestined.'_

WarGreymon continued to strike at MysticWizardmon with his claws. MysticWizardmon dodged most of the attacks, but was struck by a number of them, injuring him greatly. WarGreymon then gave himself some distance and built up his energy. "Terra Force!" he yelled, launching yet another giant burning sphere at MysticWizardmon. MysticWizardmon took the full force of the attack. The attack forced him towards the ground, crushing him into the pavement, creating a huge explosion.

"All right!" Tai cried. "Nice shot, WarGreymon!"

"Is it over?" Sora asked.

"Not yet, it isn't!" a voice cried.

The smoke and resadue, created from the explosion, quickly vanished. The digidestined then looked up to see MysticWizardmon hovering a few yards above WarGreymon. His skin was cover in scratches and burns. His clothes were torn all over, some areas still on fire. He then shouted, "After all of the battles I have fought against the digidestined, this is the first time I've actually been injured. You should be honored. But now I must end this. I must ensure that Michael's dream be realized. He saved me from my loneliness. I must help him. Goodbye WarGreymon. Mystic Blast!"

A beam of magic shot from his staff. WarGreymon had no time to grab his shield. The attack struck WarGreymon hard, sending him into the ground. A bigger explosion was caused and when the smoke and ash cleared, WarGreymon was face-up, lying in the crater. Most of his bones were broken. His shield and claws were broken into many tiny pieces. His eyes couldn't be seen anymore.

"WarGreymon!" Tai cried out, tears flowing from his eyes. "Get up!"

WarGreymon continued to lay there motionless.

"WarGreymon!" Tai cried out again.

"It's no use, Tai," Michael said. "I'm sorry, but he's not getting up."

"WarGreymon, get up!" Tai cried running over to his partner. "I know you can hear me. Get up. You can't give up now. The fate of both worlds is at stake. Everyone is counting on you. We need your help. Come on!" Tai tell hit WarGreymon straight in the face.

WarGreymon's eyes suddenly lit up. The blow to WarGreymon's face woke him up. "Your… right… Tai…" he said. "I… won't give up." WarGreymon got on his feet. "I'll crush him in the next attack!"

"Go get him, Wargreymon!" Tai replied.

then shot up into the air. He corkscrewed around in the air for awhile. MysticWizardmon couldn't keep his eyes on him. "Where is he?!" MysticWizardmon called out.

"How can he move that fast!" Michael added.

"Great Tornado!" Wargreymon yelled. MysticWizardmon turned around to see Wargreymon spinning into a tornado-like spiral, charging at him at unknown speed. With no time to protect himself, WarGreymon impacted MysticWizardmon, tearing through the spell caster, coming out the other side leaving a huge hole in the middle of MysticWizardmon's body. WarGreymon then swiftly turned around. "Terra Force!" He fired a great fire ball straight into the opening he created in MysticWizardmon's body. The flames ripped through MysticWizardmon, burning him from the inside out.

"No way?!" Michael cried out. "I lost?!"

"Yes!" Tai and Sora yelled together. "He did it! What an amazing attack!"

WarGreymon, having now used up all of his energy, returned to his In-Training form, Koromon, and fell to the ground. Tai caught the little light pink, ball of a digimon.

"You did great, Koromon," Tai told his partner.

"Wait a minute!" Sora cried out, pointing to the sky. "What's happening with MysticWizardmon?!"

Tai looked up to see MysticWizardmon glowing. The eight crests that Michael had were now hovering, circling around MysticWizardmon. The glowing energy became bright. The entire area was consumed in a bright lash of light.

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Note: Thank you for reading. Please review. I have to say this. WarGreymon's last attack was not my idea. I saw something like this in Dragon Ball GT. I thought it was cool and decided to use it. One chapter left to go.


	13. A Very Unlikely End

DISCLAIMER: I will never, in the history of my entire lifetime, own Digimon.

Author's Note: Here it is. The final chapter. Chapter thirteen. Don't you kind of find it ironic that there are thirteen digidestined and thirteen chapters. Anyway… I would have had it up sooner but (random excuse). But that doesn't matter because it's finally finished. Now don't let me keep you up.

That said… enjoy!

The Courage to Face the Darkness

Chapter Thirteen- A Very Unlikely End

The bright light emerging from MysticWizardmon continued to shine. The intense amount of light blinded everything. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, the light dies down. Tai and Sora opened their eyes and then dropped their jaws. "Where are we?" Sora asked. As the two looked around, all they could see is a sea of blue light surrounding them. Both Agumon and Biyomon were unconscious beside them. Matt was no where to be seen.

"I don't know where we are, Sora," Tai replied. "But it can't be somewhere good." Suddenly, something caught Tai and Sora's attention. Michael and MysticWizardmon, who was still glowing, were standing right in front of them. "No way! He's still alive?!" Tai exclaimed.

"Actually Tai, he isn't," Michael said. MysticWizardmon then stopped glowing and de-digivolved into Tapirmon, Wizardmon's Rookie-level form. Tapirmon then de-digitalized and his data was spread throughout the sea of bright blue light. "You actually won, Tai. Just like I knew you would."

Tai was apparently in shock because he didn't move for a few minutes. Finally, Tai's brain recovered from the mental shock and Tai responded the best way he could, "WHAT?!"

"You seemed surprised, Tai."

"What does that mean?! You knew I was going to win! What was with your digimon glowing like that? What is going on?!"

"Well I guess I do owe you two an explanation. I guess I'll start like this; I never intended on obtaining all ten crests."

"WHAT?!" Tai and Sora yelled at the same time.

"Can you let me finish?" Michael responded. He then waited a few minutes while Tai and Sora calmed down and then continued speaking. "As I said, I never intended on obtaining all ten crests. This was just a cover for my real intentions."

"And what intentions were those?" Sora asked.

"To restore the balance of power between the ten crests," Michael answered.

"Why would you need to do that?" Tai asked.

"Yah," Sora continued. "The balance of power between the ten crests was fine. Each crest was separated and given to one person. That seems pretty balanced to me."

"Actually," Michael replied. "Even is each crest was held by only one person, that doesn't mean the power of the crests could become unbalanced. If one crest loses its energy, the other crests have to make up for that energy in order to preserve the balance. That's why I came back to the human world. One of the crests lost its power. I made it my job to fix it."

"Wait," Tai interrupted. "How can a crest lose its power?"

"If the holder of the crest loses their greatest quality, the one that the crest states, the power of that crest fades away. Like what happened to you Tai. You were so afraid of tell Sora that you loved her, that you lost all of your courage. That deactivated your crest."

"It did?"

"Yes it did. And if it stays deactivated, it might have caused trouble for the balance and both worlds would be destroyed. I couldn't let that happen. That is why I fought you guys. I needed to become a huge threat so that way I could get Tai to muster up the courage that he always gets to save the day like he usually does when up against tough enemies. After that, the power of the crest would return and the balance would return to normal."

"Though that plan sounds good in theory, couldn't you just tell us that my crest's power was gone. I could have just tried to muster up some kind of courage to reenergize the crest. This way we wouldn't have to have gone through this whole battle and my friends would still have their digimon partners."

"That wouldn't have worked though, Tai. If I just told you, the courage you tried to find wouldn't be the pure courage you always show. You would only excerpt your courage because you had to, not because you wanted to. When you fight, you desperately want to win and your pure heart and soul give you the courage you need because you are the one who wants it. When you finally admitted your feeling to Sora, you did it because you wanted to, not because you had to."

"You make a good point," Sora said "But why did you have to fight the others also? Why not just Tai?"

"Two reasons. I needed to be seen as an unbeatable evil that Tai would need to have courage to face. Collecting the rests from everyone and destroying their digimon was the only way to show that I was a threat. The other reason was to keep the other crests from losing their powers. When one crest loses its power, the person who has the crest could have a negative impact on the other crest holders. For example, Tai's lack of courage could give you guys the impression that there isn't any more reason to fight. Takeru could lose all hope in fighting and then lose all hope in general. Another crest would become deactivated. The others would soon follow. The all of the power would rest inside only one crest and both the digital world and the human world would be destroyed."

"But why give the crests to you?" Sora asked.

"Because of my crest," Michael answered.

"But your crest is the crest of Darkness," Tai replied. "You even said the quality you have that got you the crest was the want for power. Isn't it evil?"

"Most people would think that. But just because the crest is called the crest of Darkness doesn't mean its evil. My quality for wanting power is not a bad thing. I actually don't want unlimited power. I just want enough to protect the things I care about. And with Wizardmon as my partner, I have all the power I could ever want. That is why I was given the crest of Darkness. I was the only one with the special quality that didn't want too much power. And since I already have all the power I could ever need, holding onto the other crests would allow me to regulate the power, preventing the crests from losing their power. That's why Wizardmon became so strong."

"Well I'm personally relieved that the universe isn't going to be destroyed and that you aren't completely evil. But there is still the damage done to the city form the battle and the fact that all of my friends' digimon, including yours, are gone for good. As you know, when a digimon is destroyed in the real world, their data has nowhere to go and the die for good. Like what happened to the first Wizardmon we knew of. We have no way of ever getting them back."

"Yah," Sora added. "Even though you helped save both worlds form complete destruction, you still killed our friends and scarred the minds of our other friends."

"Don't worry about that," Michael replied. "I've already taken care of that."

"You have?" Tai asked, confused.

"Remember the blue glowing energy around Tapirmon before he disappeared. Well that was MysticWizardmon's finally and ultimate spell. When I have the power of at least eight crests, MysticWizardmon can create time travel."

"Time travel?!" Tai and Sora exclaimed.

"Yep, time travel. The spell erases the events that took place in the two day period that this fight dragged on for. No one will remember what happened except for the digidestined and the digimon."

"You mean that…" Tai began to say.

"Yes, all of the digimon I destroyed will be alive again and all of the crests will be returned to their owners."

"That's awesome."

"It sure is." Two digital portals then opened up, one behind Michael and one behind Tai and Sora. "Now it's time for us to part ways. The portal behind you leads to the human world."

"Wait, where are you going?" Sora asked.

"I'm going back to the digital world. Back to the library."

"But why?" Sora asked.

"Yah," Tai added. "You're a digidestined like us. You are a good guy and you helped save the world, even if it didn't seem like it at first. Come with us back to the human world. You helped us. You're our friend."

A small tear of happiness rolled down Michael's cheek. "Thank you for those really kind words Tai, but I can't. Even though you and Sora can think of me as a friend, I've done some terrible things to the other digidestined. I could never get them to trust me."

"There not that hateful of people," Tai replied. "Maybe if they got to know you, you could become their friend to."

"Nice try, Tai. But you know that won't happen. I chose this path when I chose my course of action. I must take responsibilities for them. Thank you again though. I wish the best for both of you and for the others as well. I hope that one day the others can learn to forgive me. Until that day comes I must go. If you ever need my help, come find me." Michael then stepped into his portal and it closed.

"Goodbye, Michael," Tai said. "Hope we meet again." Then he and Sora stepped into their portal and it closed.

Tai and Sora then found themselves standing outside of their high school building. Everyone else was leaving the school passing by them. Each one seemed care free for school had just been let out for a week.

"We really went back in time," Sora said.

"I know," Tai replied.

"It's a shame that Michael couldn't come with us."

"Yes, but at least I still have you."

"You know, technically since we went back in time, we never had a first kiss." Sora stated.

"Your right," Tai replied. "We should fix that."

The two teens came together, their lips pressing up against the others in an affectionate and warm kiss. The kiss continued for a few minutes until they were interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Did I miss something?" the voice said. Tai and Sora separated for a moment to see matt standing next to them, with a perplexed look on his face. "Care to fill me in here?"

Tai and Sora couldn't help but laugh as they began to kiss again. The two were filled with joy. They had managed to finally admit they loved each other and saved the world. Courage had finally defeated the Darkness.

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Note: I can't believe it's finally over. I thought I would never get though this story but somehow I did. I want to thank everyone who was read my story. If you didn't read this story, I wouldn't have written it. Oh, and I bet you didn't expect Michael to actually be a good guy in the end. Well I couldn't let a digidestined be evil. Also a friend dared me to end it like this. And Michael is actually based off of me. Again, another dare. I don't understand why guys have to follow though with every dare they are given. That's what I get for being a guy. And as a promised, Tai and Sora are officially together. Tough if they have actually ended up together in the anime that would have been better. Oh well. Please review this chapter. It is the last one you'll have to do for a while. Maybe I might make a sequel. If you think so, write it in your review. Thanks again.


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